Mmt 



MA 



ue<?n Q 



E-T- WILLIAMS 



!;jl# 



Wf 



wm: 



:ti^.u.v I 



M 



i"-'.:''K, 



Mill' V:. 



r.5,. /■' ■■ 




Class Fit7 



Book_J\LiLUkl. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




EDWARD T. WILilA.MS - i, r>> ^f 



NIAGARA 

QUEEN OF WONDERS 



A Graphic History of the Big Events in Three Centuries Along 
the Niagara Frontier, One of the Most Famous Regions in 
the World, Including Early Explorations, Early Fascina- 
ting Literature, Early Wars, and the First and Greatest 
Electrical Power Development, a Discussion of and 
Data Pertaining to the Large Subject of the Conser- 
vation of Natural Resources, of Nation-Wide 
Interest, Together with the Creation and the 
Development of the City of Niagara Falls 



BY 

EDWARD THEODORE WILLIAMS 

President Niagara Frontier Historical Society 

Eleven Years Managing Editor of the Niagara Falls Journal and 

Five Years City Industrial Agent of 

Niagara Falls, New York 



^^ 



BOSTON 
Chappie Publishing Company, Ltd. 

1916 



N8 WloS 



Copyright 1916 

BY 

EDWARD T. WILLIAMS 
Niagara Falls, N. Y. 



/ 

MAY 25 1916 

©Cl.A4:n3M3 



PREFACE 



To the people of the Niagara Frontier, one of the most famous, 
prosperous and promising regions in the United States, in which 
I was born and have always lived and where four generations 
of my family have lived, this book is dedicated. The facts warrant 
it and my impulse is to make "Niagara — Queen of Wonders" the 
finest and most comprehensive publication ever issued relating to a 
single community. Nature has A\Tought here its most marvelous 
work. With such an inspiration, man has accomplished here, with 
Nature as his handmaiden, some of the greatest achievements of any 
age. Therefore, while the book pertains to a locality, its contents 
are of nation-wide and world-wide concern. The illustrations are 
among the best specimens of the engraver's art and the subjects are 
incomparable. 

The text is fascinating and of tremendous import. First the ab- 
solutely unique early history of the Niagara Frontier beginning with the 
struggles between the French and English for its control. The region 
has been under three flags. The Lilies of France, the Roses of England 
and the Stars and Stripes have all played a large part here. The romantic 
experiences of early explorers stage large along the Niagara River. 
The commerce of the unsalted seas of the United States was born here. 
This was the principal battleground of the war of 1812 between the 
United States and Great Britain. The Imperial State of New York 
exercised here its power of eminent domain, and it made free to all 
mankind forever the enjoyment of the world's greatest natural spec- 
tacle. Then science stepped in and without injuring the scenic spec- 
tacle converted Niagara's mighty moving flood to the largest use of 
human kind. The first and greatest electrical power development on 
earth has its site at Niagara and no man can forecast how much greater 
it will be as science advances. The progress of the past quarter of a 
century has been beyond the dreams of the greatest optimist. The 
details are related in this book, coupled with the fascinating history 
of the pioneer days when deNonville peered through the primeval 
forest, Hennepin caught the first white man's vision of the mighty 

(iii) 



iv PREFACE 

cataracts, and LaSalle built the first ship to sail the upper lakes. The 
native red man started from these shores on his sorrowful journey 
toward the setting sun. 

The City of Niagara Falls was erected here to become in less than 
a quarter of a century the chief industrial community of the early 
Genesee country herein described, outside of Buffalo and Rochester. 
In many ways the eyes of the civilized world are turned toward Niagara 
Falls. In scenic grandeur, in entrancing historical events to which 
the mystic chords of memory lead, in various lines of industrial effort 
in which the electric furnace plays large part, and roseate promises for 
a great future worthy of the highest aspirations of man, Niagara, like 
the name of Abou Ben Adhem, leads all the rest. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CHAPTER I 



NIAGARA-QUEEN OF WONDERS 

The World's Greatest Natural Spectacle Compared with Numerous 

Other Exalted Scenes. Peerless Niagara was not 

Created for Beauty Alone 



NIAGARA ! Magic name ! Most sublime spectacle on earth. 
The contemplation of the handiwork of Nature is a 
matter of comparison. We conjure up in our minds a 
picture of some famous spectacle, and then when we actually 
see it, we may be disappointed. Imagination and reality do not 
always harmonize. For instance, Norway is in the Arctic Circle, 
and the conclusion would naturally be that the climate is like 
that of Greenland, but, as a matter of fact, Norway is one of the 
most wonderful countries on the globe, not only because of its 
magnificent scenery, but because Nature saves it as a habitation 
for the race by sending thither the mysterious gulf stream, which 
crosses the Atlantic Ocean for five thousand miles and fulfills 
its mission transforming, by its still, warm breath, an otherwise 
barren region. 

Throughout the world there are marvelous creations of 
Nature that inspire admiration and awe. The Grand Canyon 
of Colorado; the marvelous Yellowstone Park; the Mammoth 
Cave of Kentucky; the Palisades of the Hudson; the 33,000 
islands of the Georgian Bay; the Thousand Islands and the 
Laurentian Hills of the St. Lawrence River that carries the 
waters of our five unsalted seas; the classic Mediterranean and 
^gean Seas; the Headlands of the Plains of Ancient Troy; the 
Land of the Alhambra; the Sands of the Desert of Sahara; the 
Sacred Coast of Palestine; the Grecian Islands, consecrated by 
Homeric legend; the Bosporous, most attractive harbor in the 

(1) 



2 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

world, uniting the Orient and the Occident; the Grand Canal of 
Venice; the Cedars of Lebanon; the Mount of Olives; the 
Dead Sea; the Wilderness of Judea; Egypt, the oldest born of 
time; the Sacred Mountain of Japan, Fuja-Yama; the glorious 
harbor of Hong Kong; Greenland's icy mountains; India's 
coral strand; the Ganges, which surpasses all other rivers in 
sanctity; the Mississippi, "Father of Waters"; the Himalayas, 
"Halls of Snow," loftiest range of mountains on the globe; 
Mount Everest, highest single peak in the world; the castle- 
bordered Rhine; the Black Forest of Germany; the awe-inspiring 
grandeur of the stupendous Norway gorges; the Jordalsnut, a 
gigantic, silvery feldspar thimble-shaped mountain in Norway; 
the imposing Romsdalhorn; the Jungfrau, queen of Alpine 
heights; Mount Blanc, monarch of mountains; the frowning 
Matterhorn; the Alpine waterfall, Geissbach; and monstrous 
glaciers creeping out from their icy lairs. 

The procession of Nature's marvels throughout the universe, 
which charm, mystify, and inspire the almost inexpressible ad- 
miration of mankind, is almost limitless. When all have been 
seen and described, the traveler, the writer and the lover of 
nature pauses in contemplation of the greatest, the most beauti- 
ful and the most famous of all, the Cataracts of the Niagara, 
and their companion wonders, the Rapids and the stupendous 
Gorge. To this shrine of Nature have come pilgrims from every 
civilized country on the globe, and their number from the time 
that the primeval forest, inhabited only by wild beasts, the fowls 
of the air and the red man surrounded this spectacle, until the 
twentieth century, when man has harnessed some of the almost 
limitless power that has gone down to the sea unused, is countless 
millions. 

"Enthroned in might Jehovah spake. 

And bade creation's morn awake; 

Sprang forth the light with quickening ray. 

And brooding darkness fled away. 

And thus Niagara's race began 

Without the voice or aid of man ! 

Its flowing waters crowned with spray, 

Have never faltered on their way." 

The glories of Niagara have reached the uttermost parts of 
the earth. The mighty ocean and the pleasant land; the moun- 



NIAGARA— QUEEN OF ^YONDERS 3 

tains that tower above the plains; the other rivers that run down 
to the sea; Gibraltar, the Matterhorn, and the blue expanse of 
the Mediterranean — all the works of the Omnipotent, whether 
land or sea, and all that in them is, become of secondary import- 
ance when the highest work of creation — man — gazes upon the 
world's greatest cataracts and fully realizes their potentialities. 
By the same token the six great aqueducts and the splendid 
architecture of ancient Rome; the massive pyramids of Egypt; 
the man-made glories of ancient Greece; all of the stupendous 
accomplishments wrought by the brain and hand of man in the 
century last past are exceeded by the significance of the results 
of Niagara harnessed. No man can measure what it means to 
this and succeeding generations. It initiated and chiefly main- 
tains the electrical age. 

Who shall say that there was placed in this favored region 
peerless Niagara for beauty alone .'^ Niagara's purpose is twofold : 
beauty and utility clasp hands, as it were, and move forward 
to the goal of human happiness; mankind is uplifted spiritually 
and immensely benefitted materially. And Niagara flows on 
forever ! 

The Niagara frontier is a beauty spot world renowned. It is 
the greatest illustration of the futility of painting the lily and 
gilding refined gold. In the ages that are past, it was the 
abode of 

"The poor Indian, whose untutored mind 
Sees God in clouds, and hears Him in the wind." 

More than two hundred years ago, French missionaries 
explored it, and Father Hennepin first viewed the Mighty 
Thunderer, while LaSalle built the first ship to sail the upper 
lakes. One hundred years ago it was the chief theatre in a 
great war, and bloody battles were fought at Fort Erie, Chip- 
pewa, Lundy's Lane and Queenston between contending armies 
speaking the same tongue. Today the swiftly flowing flood 
that forms the boundary between the two great nations has 
been harnessed by the genius of man, and the Niagara frontier 
is the site of the first and greatest electrical power development 
on earth, just as the Anglo-Saxon race prepared to celebrate the 
hundredth anniversary of peace between English-speaking 
peoples. Today we furnish a striking illustration of the fact 



4 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

that "Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.'* In 
the reflected glory of a mighty past, we live in a splendid present 
and move forward to a destiny the magnitude of which no man 
can measure. What man has done in the conservation of natural 
resources of the Niagara frontier spells achievement, fulfillment, 
courage, hope, devotion, sacrifice, inspiration, beauty, faith, 
opportunity, effort, success and compensation. 

Francis Lynde Stetson, the eminent New York lawyer, and a 
leading official of The Niagara Falls Power Company, eloquently 
portrays the Niagara Falls and Rapids when he says : 

"To souls sensitive to the beautiful and the sublime, the 
plunging torrent has appealed by the stateliness of its streams, 
the brilliance of its boisterous rapids, and the deep glassy green 
of its silent foreboding brink, as well as by its drop into the seem- 
ingly infinite depth, from which there comes to him who listens 
the note of the welcoming abyss, deeper than the diapason of 
any organ's pipe. To most, the first impression, and to many 
the enduring impression is that of awe, in which the subjective 
mood prevails, and a certain sense of personal danger dominates 
all other thoughts of this mighty moving flood, pouring resist- 
lessly down through the gorge, which, for itself, it has forced 
through multiplied strata of rock of many ages. Danger there 
certainly is, and death in this resistless, remorseless tide has been 
found and also has been sought by hundreds; but notwithstand- 
ing its appalling aspect, it is through this very sense of resistless 
power that the Falls speak to minds of great dignity and self- 
restraint, and lead them to observe as did Mr. Carter of New 
York, in his characteristically fine oration at the opening of 
Niagara Park, that the 'sense which responds to this magnificent 
motion is the sense of power.' " 

For more than two centuries these cataracts have enjoyed 
a world-celebrity as a stupendous natural spectacle. So far as 
is known, the first white man to see them was Father Louis 
Hennepin, a French missionary, in 1678. Previous to that the 
native Indian with his "untutored mind" was the only one to 
contemplate the Falls. In exploring the St. Lawrence River in 
1603, Champlain heard of the Falls from the Indians, and referred 
to them in his published report in a very indefinite way, but he 
never saw them. He can be credited with the first announce- 
ment to the world of the existence of Niagara Falls. After 



NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 6 

Father Hennepin saw them in 1678, their fame spread, and as 
civilization advanced, they came to be more and more the 
wonder and admiration of the world, until now it is estimated 
that over 1,500,000 people come to view Nature's greatest handi- 
work every year. Much has been written and said about Niagara. 
The language has been searched for extravagant or eloquent 
words to depict the grandeur of the spectacle. It has been the 
wonderment of sovereigns and rulers of lands, civilized and 
uncivilized; of persons high in official position; of countries 
Christian and heathen ; of characters of celebrity in art, in litera- 
ture and in science, in almost every language spoken and written. 
Poets have exhausted their muse, and prose writers have utilized 
their most grandiloquent phrases to reflect their impressions of 
bounteous Nature's most magnificent gift to mankind. 



CHAPTER II 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 

The Struggles Between the French and English for the 
Control of the Niagara Frontier 



IN the Massachusetts historical collection is found a "Descrip- 
tion of the Country between Albany and Niagara in 1792." 
The writer is anonymous, and begins his article by saying 
that "I am just returned from Niagara, about five hundred and 
sixty miles west of Boston." Speaking of the Genesee country 
later in the article, he says: 

"Taking a view of this country altogether, I do not know 
such an extent of ground so good. Cultivation is easy, and the 
land is grateful. The progress of settlement is so rapid that you 
and myself may very probably see the day when we can apply 
these lines to the Genesee country: 

" 'Here happy millions their own lands possess, 
No tyrant awes them, nor no lords oppress.' " 

"Many times did I break out in an enthusiastic frenzy, an- 
ticipating the probable situation of this wilderness twenty years 
hence. All that reason can ask may be obtained by the indus- 
trious hand, the only danger to be feared is that luxuries will 
flow too cheap." 

The Genesee country is described in the "Documentary 
History of New" York" as "the most westerly part of the State 
of New York, and is situated between three degrees fifty minutes 
longitude west from New York, and between forty-two degrees 
and forty-three degrees fifteen minutes north latitude. Its 

(6) 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 7 

greatest length from east to west is one hundred and twenty -five 
miles, and its greatest breadth about ninety-five miles, containing 
nearly five million acres. It is bounded south on the north 
boundary of Pennsylvania; north by the southern shore of 
Lake Ontario; west by the eastern boundary of Presque-Isle 
(a flourishing settlement in Pennsylvania) eighteen miles; north- 
west by the southeast shore of Lake Erie, seventy miles; west 
by the Straits of Niagara upwards of thirty-seven miles; and 
east by a meridian line running due north from the north boundary 
of Pennsylvania, at the eighty-second milestone, to the south 
shore of Lake Ontario." 

Standing upon an eminence overlooking a period of nearly 
three hundred years since it was first known to the white man, 
we can see that the early writers only scratched the surface 
as to the possibilities of the so-called Genesee country. Within 
its boundaries numerous trenchant historical scenes have been 
enacted, and the general progress of mankind has always been 
most fully exemplified. Very frequently our locality has been 
in the vanguard in those things that make for the advancement 
of humanity. 

As a partial explanation of why the English and the French 
struggled for the control of this region may be cited excerpts 
from Imlay's "Topographical Description of the Western Terri- 
tory of North America." Referring to the Genesee tract, he says: 

"But the peculiar advantages which distinguished these lands 
over most of the new settled countries of America are these 
following: 1. The uncommon excellence and fertility of the 
soil. 2. The superior quality of the timber, and the advantages 
of easy cultivation, in consequence of being generally free from 
underwood. 3. The abundance of grass for cattle in the woods, 
and on the extensive meadow grounds upon the lakes and rivers. 
4. The vast quantities of the sugar maple tree, in every part 
of the tract. 5. The great variety of other fine timber, such 
as oak, hickory, black walnut, chestnut, ash of different kinds, 
elm, butternut and basswood, poplar, pines and also thorn trees 
of a prodigious size. 6. The variety of fruit trees, and also 
smaller fruits, such as apple and peach, and orchards in different 
places, which were planted by the Indians, plum and cherry 
trees, mulberries, grapes of different kinds, raspberries, huckle- 
berries, blackberries, wild gooseberries, and strawberries in vast 



8 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

quantities; also cranberries and blackhaws, etc. 7. The vast 
variety of wild animals and game which is to be found in this 
country, such as deer, moosedeer, and elk of a very large size, 
beavers, otters, martins, minks, rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, 
bears, wildcats, etc., many of which furnish excellent furs and 
peltry. 8. The great variety of birds for game, such as wild 
turkeys, pheasants, partridges, pigeons, plovers, heath fowl, 
and Indian hen, together with a vast variety of water fowl on the 
rivers and lakes, such as wild geese and ducks of many different 
kinds not known in Europe. 9. The uncommon abundance of 
very fine fish, with which the lakes and rivers abound; among 
which are to be found excellent salmon of two different kinds, 
salmon-trout, of a very large size, white and yellow perch, 
sheephead, pike, succors, and eels, of a very large size, with a 
variety of other fish in their different seasons. 10. The excellence 
of the climate in that region where these lands are situated, 
which is less severe in winter, and not so warm in summer, as the 
same latitudes nearer the sea. The total exemption from all 
periodic disorders, particularly the fever and ague, which does 
not prevail in the Genesee country on account of the rising 
grounds and fine situations. 11. The vast advantages derived 
from the navigable lakes, rivers and creeks, which intersect and 
run through every part of this tract of country, affording a water 
communication from the northern parts of the Grant by the 
Genesee River one way, or by the Seneca River another way, 
into the great Lake Ontario, and from thence by cataraqui to 
Quebec, or by the said Genesee River, the Oneida Lake and 
Wood Creek to Schenectady on the Mohawk River, with only 
a short land carriage, and from thence to Albany, with a portage 
of sixteen miles," etc. 

Of course, many of the attractions and inducements for this 
region mentioned above disappeared with the advancement of 
civilization and the congestion of population. The prizes of the 
chase are almost entirely gone. Some of the kinds of fish men- 
tioned above are still in the streams, but the primeval forest is 
gone and there is comparatively little timber in the old Genesee 
country now. There could not have been many peach orchards 
or apple orchards at that time, but there is in our locality now 
one of the greatest fruit belts in the world. What is now the 
County of Niagara contains as many or more apple trees than 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 9 

any other county in the United States. All kinds of fruit that are 
grown in this climate are abundant here. 

What is now known as the Niagara Frontier does not contain 
the same area as the old Genesee country. It is virtually that 
territory lying between Lakes Erie and Ontario, and it is a narrow 
strip generally understood not to extend eastward farther than 
the boundaries of Niagara and Erie counties. What has been 
quoted above was written at a comparatively late date. This 
region received much attention considerably more than one 
hundred years previous to the year 1792. Quotations have been 
made as above to show some of the reasons why the French were 
so anxious to be in possession of this region. The other reasons 
were of military character, the Niagara River flowing down from 
Lake Erie and into Lake Ontario formed a strategic military 
point. That is why a fort was built at the mouth of the Niagara 
River on the banks of Lake Ontario, and its strategic importance 
explains why that fort has been under three flags, the French, 
the English, and the American. 

Within the walls of old Fort Niagara there are relics of two 
and one-half centuries. The United States government has a 
reservation there of one hundred and eighty-eight acres, and 
maintains a portion of the army there at all times in the modern 
buildings; but at the extreme point where the Niagara River 
enters Lake Ontario are the structures of the ancient fort. In 
1669 LaSalle, the French explorer, who constructed at the village 
bearing his name, just south of the city of Niagara Falls, the 
Griffon, the first vessel to sail the upper lakes, built the first 
structure other than an Indian wigwam ever erected on the 
Niagara Frontier. Again in 1678, the year that Father Henne- 
pin, LaSalle's associate explorer, saw Niagara Falls, the first 
white man to gaze upon the mighty cataracts, LaSalle built 
there Fort Conti. That fort was destroyed, and in 1687 deNon- 
ville built another fort called after himself. That fort was de- 
stroyed by the Seneca Indians the next year. The French, in 
1725, erected a stone structure, the foundations of which remain, 
and are credited with being the oldest existing masonry west 
of Albany. The French enlarged the fort, but were supplanted 
by the British in 1759. 

Fort Niagara was the center of the history of the middle 
part of North America for over one hundred years, and during 



10 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

the eighteenth century its commandant, whether EngUsh or 
French, was the most important man west of New York. In 
1770 Major Wynne reported that "Niagara is, without exception, 
the most important post in America, and secures a greater num- 
ber of communications, through a more extensive country, than 
perhaps any other pass in the world." Honorable Peter A. 
Porter has since added that "no one spot of land in North America 
has played a more important part in the control, growth and 
settlement of the great West than the few acres embraced within 
its fortifications. Its cemetery is the oldest consecrated ground 
west of Albany." The French rule ended there in 1759. Of 
course, the British occupation ended there at the close of the 
War of 1812. 

In 1678 Father Hennepin described the great cataracts as a 
place where "a vast and prodigious cadence of waters falls down 
after a surprising and astonishing manner in so much that the 
universe does not afford its parallel." Two hundred and forty 
years later, in the light and life of the twentieth century, in 
words that are halting and feeble beside the mighty forces of 
Nature and of man, in the strength that comes from perfect 
union, we pay our tribute to the Falls of Niagara! Grandest of 
Nature's scenes ! Noblest of all the works of creation in earthly 
spectacles. Millions of people from all over the civilized world 
have gazed upon the great cataracts with wonderment and awe. 
By the genius of man, beauty and utility have been united. 
Sentiment and usefulness march side by side, and delight and 
serve the human race. The one has inspired reverence and 
admiration; the other is the vanguard of progress. The one is 
sublime; the other is unequaled. The one is the greatest inspira- 
tion of artists and poets; the other is the origin of man's most 
superb accomplishment. 

In one of the letters written in 1792 found in the papers 
relating to western New York, the writer speaks of the town 
of Sodus "situated on a bay of the same name, which is well 
known as the best harbor on the south side of Lake Ontario. 
Few or none, even on the seacoast exceed it for spaciousness and 
beauty. The extent of the bay, from north to south, is about 
six or seven miles, and from east to west, from two to four miles. 
The grounds around the bay rise considerably high, and the 
^ntrance is not above half a mile over." Farther along the same 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 11 

writer says: "The first view of this place, after^passing through 
a timbered country twenty-eight miles strikes the eye of the 
beholder as one of the most magnificent landscapes human 
fancy can picture, and the beauty of the scene is not infrequently 
heightened by the appearance of large vessels navigating the 
lake. At the sight of these immense bodies of water, the mind 
of a reflecting man must be struck by admiration. With only 
the interception of the portage of nine miles at Niagara Falls 
they may be navigated to the westward at least two thousand 
miles." 

Champlain made an expedition to northern New York in 
1609 and to western New York in 1615. He made a map indi- 
cating remarkable places represented by all the letters of the 
alphabet, and then by number up to ninety -six. Number eighty 
was described as a "very high waterfall at the head of Sault 
(qu. Lake) St. Louis; descending which various sorts of fishes 
become dizzy. (Niagara.)" 

Upon this subject Honorable Peter A. Porter, the historian 
of the Niagara Frontier, in a recent pamphlet entitled "Land- 
marks on the Niagara Frontier," says: 

"Frenchmen had been on the Niagara River before 1640. 
Brule, Champlain's interpreter, was in western New York in 
1615, but was never on our river. French traders or coureurs de 
bois, had been there perhaps before, no doubt soon after, that 
date. Father Daillon was there in 1626. Father Breboeuf and 
Chaumonot were there, on their mission to the Neuters, in 
1640. But all these sought either trade as individuals or the 
spread of the Gospel. In 1669, however, there came to this region 
a man primarily on a voyage of discovery, and, as a result, seeking 
control of the western Indian trade; but necessarily he sought 
the resultant control by France over the Indian tribes and their 
territory, and such control meant fort building. In company 
with deGasson and Gallinee, and their joint party, LaSalle in 
that year passed the mouth of the Niagara River, went as far 
west as the end of Lake Ontario; then, accompanied by a few 
men, turned back, ostensibly to return to Montreal, leaving 
the Fathers to proceed to and winter on the north shore of Lake 
Erie. Of LaSalle, during the next two years, we know little, 
only that he reached the Ohio in 1670, and made a trip on Lakes 
Erie, Huron and Michigan in 1671. My own belief is that he 



12 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

and his small party went from the western end of Lake Ontario 
to the Niagara River, of whose importance as the 'great river 
of the Neuters' he had heard, and whose mouth he, no doubt, 
as he passed it shortly before, recognized as a desirable point 
for trade and as a base of supplies. At its mouth, I think, he 
spent the winter of 1669-1670. For here, according to the oflBcial 
report of deNonville (made in 1686), he built 'Logements' or 
quarters in 1668. This date is clearly an error, and should be 
1669, for LaSalle was never in the Niagara region until 1669. 
The destruction of these 'quarters' of LaSalle's by the Senecas, 
in 1675, was given by deNonville as one of the main reasons 
for his expedition against them in 1678. In building quarters 
for himself and his party in an unknown and semi-hostile country, 
LaSalle doubtless made them defensible from attack. Hence, 
in 1669, on the site of Fort Niagara, LaSalle built the first white 
man's house on the frontier. It was a temporary fort and I in- 
clude it in my list of forts, and name it Fort LaSalle. In 1670, 
de Courcelles, governor-general of Canada, is said to have recom- 
mended to his government the erection of a regular fort on the 
Niagara River. If so, he was probably instigated by suggestions 
made to him by LaSalle, after the latter returned to Quebec 
that year. In 1673, LaSalle himself was again in Quebec, and that 
year Frontenac, then governor-general, a personal friend of 
LaSalle, and without doubt at his request, recommended the 
erection of such a fort, and renewed the recommendation the 
following year. In 1678, LaSalle, finding that the French Govern- 
ment paid no attention to the project of a fort on the Niagara, 
arranged to build it as a private venture, in connection with his 
projected western explorations and for the building of forts 
where he thought necessary in connection therewith, for which 
he had obtained oflficial consent in 'Letters Patent.' In December 
of that year, the advance party of his expedition, under command 
of LaMotte, in a brigantine of ten tons, entered the Niagara 
River; and some days later, near the site of Lewiston, they 
built a cabin, surrounded with palisades, which, though intended 
for a 'fort,' under the name of a 'magazine,' they felt compelled, 
in order to allay the suspicions of the Senecas, to call 'an Habita- 
tion'. For the purpose of giving a distinctive name to this 
structure, the first one on the river that is recorded as being 
'palisaded,' or protected, I have assumed to call it Fort Hennepin, 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY IS 

after the priest and historian of the expedition, who helped to 
construct it. It seems, perhaps, incongruous to name a fort 
after a priest; but Hennepin was a very worldly Father, took 
a prominent part in furthering the commercial features of the 
expedition, and, by publishing the earliest detailed description 
and picture of Niagara Falls, has associated his name forever 
with this region, so it may be pardoned. 

"In January, 1679, LaSalle obtained the consent of the 
Senecas to the erection of a storehouse at the mouth of the river, 
and a few daj^s later, in the presence of Conti, Hennepin and 
LaMotte, he traced out on the high bank there, the outlines of 
the structure, to which he had two months earlier promised to 
give the name of 'Fort Conti.' It consisted of two blockhouses, 
forty feet square, built of logs, and connected by palisades. It 
stood on the point of land now embraced within the limits of the 
earthworks of Fort Niagara; but in the following August, through 
the carelessness of the sergeant in charge, this first pretentious 
defensive structure on the Niagara was reduced to ashes. It 
was the first distinctly so-called 'fort' built by white men west 
of Frontenac. To LaSalle must be given all the credit for the 
first 'fortifications' of this frontier. He first saw the needs and 
benefits of it, and through oflBcial channels had urged it upon 
the French government. When he could get no assistance in 
that direction, he accomplished it at his own expense. Seven 
years later, France recognized most decidedly the desirability 
of a fort at this point. In 1687 deNonville, after defeating the 
Senecas in the Genesee Valley, led his army to Niagara, where, 
in July of that year, on the site of the burned Fort Conti, he 
constructed a fort of 'pales with four bastions,' which he named 
himself, 'Fort de Nonville.' He left in it a garrison of one hun- 
dred men, with provisions for eight months. No sooner had his 
army started eastward than the Senecas who, though defeated, 
had not been subdued, besieged it, maintaining the siege all 
winter. In the spring its garrison, then reduced to a dozen 
men, was reinforced. On the erection of the fort, the British 
had promptly demanded its demolition, and the Senecas, at 
British instigation, refused to consider negotiations with France 
for a treaty of peace so long as it existed. So, in the summer 
of 1688, deNonville, under compulsion, gave orders for its 
destruction. The French excavated it, having first torn down the 

*2 



14 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

pales, but leaving the buildings, seven in number, and a great 
cross, eighteen feet high, which stood on the parade ground, 
intact. The Senecas probably did not allow even these evidences 
of a hostile occupation of their territory to remain long. 

"Baron La Hontan, who had helped to build this fort, and had 
then been ordered to the west, had a soldier's eye for strategic 
sites; for, as he saw the present site of Buffalo, he declared it 
to be a most desirable point for a fort, and on a map which he 
included in his subsequent book, he there marked 'Fort Sup- 
pose'; but no move was ever made by the French towards its 
erection. 

"During the next thirty years no fort was erected on the 
Niagara, though both France and Britain were watching for an 
opportunity to build one, and the influence of the French over 
the Senecas was constantly increasing. In 1719, through the 
personality of Joncaire, a Frenchman by birth, but a Seneca 
by adoption, the man who spoke 'with all the good sense of a 
Frenchman, and with all the eloquence of an Iroquois,' France 
obtained the consent of the Senecas to the erection of a house 
on the Niagara. The Senecas had previously told Joncaire that 
he might build a house for himself wherever he chose; and he 
now selected a site on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at 
the foot of the trail or portage, and here he built the first 'trading 
house' in the western Indian country. The Senecas, true to their 
friendship for the French, but on the ground that Joncaire was 
a child of their nation, refused Britain's urgent demand for its 
demolition; they also refused her subsequent demand for per- 
mission to erect a similar 'trading house' on the river. 

"Within a year Joncaire had enlarged his original 'cabin' 
into a 'blockhouse,' forty feet long by thirty feet wide, musket 
proof, with port holes and surrounded by palisades. He was its 
'commander'; it was styled 'Magazine Royal,' and over it floated 
the flag bearing the Lilies of France. It became a great center 
of trade, its attendants were French soldiers, and in it France 
again had a real fort on the Niagara. 

"In 1726, so well had Joncaire played his part, the French 
obtained the consent of the Iroquois to the erection of a stone 
house 'on the river,' and one hundred men were sent to build 
it. The engineer, Chassegross de Levy, saw the superior advan- 
tages of the site at the mouth of the river, seven miles away; 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 15 

and, contrary to his official instructions, but very possibly in 
accordance with secret orders, built there (and not alongside of 
Joncaire's fort) a very large single structure, which is today the 
'castle' at modern Fort Niagara. LaSalle's plan of fifty years 
before was now a reality, and on the site of Fort Conti was thus 
commenced a fort destined in a few years to become the most 
important fortification on the Lakes, and to play a most historic 
part in the history of the Iroquois, of the French, of their con- 
querors, the British, and of Britain's seceding and victorious 
colonies, the United States of America. The new structure was 
a large house, which later on became the residence of the French, 
and still later the residence of the British commandants, and was 
by them designated as 'The Castle,' a name it has retained ever 
since. It was a two-story structure, the oldest masonry on the 
frontier, or west of Albany. The British protested vigorously 
against the maintenance of this stone house, and used all their 
influence with the other five Iroquois nations (the Senecas, the 
sixth nation of the Confederacy, were the firm friends of the 
French) to have it torn down. But it was unavailing; the stone 
house, the first Fort Niagara, remained, and in French possession. 
Joncaire's house, at the foot of the portage, had served its purpose 
and served it well; now it was allowed to fall into decay. 

"After it had been settled that France's ownership of this 
new house, or fort, was not to be disturbed, she proceeded to 
construct around it a real fort. Ramparts made of pickets, 
with four bastions, and enclosing about an acre of ground, were 
constructed around the buildings. This fortification, a fortress 
in every sense of the word, the second Fort Niagara, must have 
been finished about 1730; for by 1736 it mounted thirty guns. 
By 1739 the pickets of the ramparts had decayed and were falling 
down, necessitating repairs. The location and relative size of 
this second Fort Niagara is shown by Pouchot, on his map or 
plan of the greater fort, as it was when, under his command, it 
was besieged and captured by the British in 1759. 

"French influence over the Senecas was now absolute and 
was in the ascendancy among the western tribes, where French 
forts multiplied. The fur trade between Detroit, then the great 
western metropolis for peltries, and Quebec, by way of Fort 
Niagara, was very large. So great was the value of the military 
stores and the merchandise of the traders going west, and of the 



16 NIAGARA- QUEEN OF WONDERS 

canoe loads of furs coming east, that it became necessary to erect 
some fortifications at the upper end of the portage, as a protection 
for this commerce. About 1745 a small fort or blockhouse, also 
a storehouse, was erected at this point, which is still called 'the 
Frenchmen's Landing,' and is situated just above the entrance 
of the hydraulic canal in the city of Niagara Falls. De Witt 
Clinton, who was at Niagara in 1810, noted the 'remains of stone 
buildings' at this spot. Local historians, of the succeeding 
generation, have also told of these remains, which were those 
of the first Little Niagara. But the current above was too swift 
and the rapids below were too near, to permit the Frenchmen's 
heavily-laden boats, which, with the increase of commerce, were 
gradually enlarged, to be handled with ease and safety at this 
point. So, in 1751, this upper end of the portage was moved 
about half a mile up stream, where was built a larger and more 
pretentious fort, called 'Fort du Portage,' or 'Fort Little Niagara'; 
this, the second Fort Little Niagara, being merely a dependency 
of the greater fort. It consisted of three good-sized blockhouses 
made of logs, and between them, as well as between the outer ones 
and the bank of the river, were strong palisades. Near it were 
barracks for the soldiers, cabins for the Frenchmen employed 
thereabouts, and huts for the Indians who carried the stores and 
peltries up or down the portage. At one end of the barracks was 
built the stone chimney, which is still standing, the only existing 
relic of what was in its day an important military post." 

This structure, called Fort Schlosser chimney, although it 
was built ten years before Fort Schlosser, was erected in 1750. 
Except the old "castle" at Fort Niagara, which was finished in 
1727, the chimney is the oldest piece of masonry west of Albany. 
The chimney originally stood west of the British Portage Road, 
but after The Niagara Falls Power Company purchased the lands 
along the river and factories began to be erected, it was moved 
one hundred feet eastward. During the summer of 1915, the 
Niagara Frontier Historical Society placed a tablet upon it 
inscribed as follows: 

"Built by French, 1750, one hundred feet westward in Fort 
Little Niagara's barracks, which they burned in 1759. To it 
British built in 1761 the Stedman House (where that master of 
the portage lived until United States occupation in 1759) which, 
in 1808, became Broughton's tavern. Burned by British in devas- 




THE CAVERN OF THE HOKSESTTOE FALLS, ON THE CANADIAN SIDE OF 
THE RIVER. MADE IN 1844 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 17 

tation of 1813. Re-erected here in 1898 by Niagara Falls Power 
Company. Marked by the Niagara Frontier Historical Society 
in 1915." 

At the formal ceremonies dedicating this tablet, Hon. Peter 
A. Porter, once owner of the land upon which the chimney 
stands, Frederick L. Lovelace, secretary of The Niagara Falls 
Power Company, which company now owns it, and Edward T. 
Williams, president of the Niagara Frontier Historical Society, 
spoke, and Mrs. Linda deK. Fulton, member of a pioneer family, 
read a poem. 

Mr. Porter continues: 

"That fort stood until 1759, when its commandant, Joncaire 
(a son of that Joncaire previously mentioned), acting under 
orders from Fort Niagara, burned it, removed all its transport- 
able goods to a location on Chippewa Creek, and took its garrison 
of sixty men to aid in the defense of the greater fort, which was 
being besieged by the British. This second Fort Little Niagara 
had been kept in a fair condition, for after its erection the French 
felt more secure in their supremacy on this frontier. At the same 
time, for the further protection of the portage and of its increas- 
ing business, they built and garrisoned fortified warehouses or 
small forts both at the top and at the foot of Lewiston Mountain, 
the former close to the portage roadway where it reached the 
crest of the mountain, the latter at its terminal on the river 
bank below, which was the head of the lower Niagara River's 
navigation. A year or so later they built two more warehouses 
alongside of the one at the foot of the mountain. This fort 
stood on the river bank, some thirty feet above the river. The 
portage terminated at the water's edge below it, descending thereto 
through a gully which still exists. 

"In 1754, Britain's aggressiveness and plans for war in the 
New World, caused France to make preparations for the inevit- 
able coming struggle for control of North America. Fort Niagara, 
the one fort in the West that Britain specially coveted, was in a 
dilapidated state, in no condition to resist an attack by a large 
force. In 1755, France decided to greatly strengthen it, in fact, 
to entirely rebuild it; and that fall, Pouchot, an experienced 
engineer, was sent there for that purpose. During the next three 
years, Pouchot was at Fort Niagara nearly half the time; at first 
as an engineer, later as its commandant. He made it a fort of 



18 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

enormous strength; built extensive new fortifications, extending 
from the lake to the river, thus increasing the enclosed area of the 
fort fully eight-fold, and built new barracks to accommodate 
the enlarged garrison. The work commenced on January 14, 
1756, appears to have been carried on uninterruptedly, and was 
not completed until October 12, 1757. All the earthworks on 
the land side, on the lines of the present ones, were constructed 
at this time. The palisades of the 'old' or second Fort Niagara, 
were evidently removed on the completion of this new, or third 
Fort Niagara; but the buildings of the old fort (and it would 
seem that there were a number of them) so far as they were 
useful, were retained. In the spring of 1759 the fortifications 
were extensively repaired under Pouchot's supervision, and 
when a month after their satisfactory completion, the British 
besieged it, Fort Niagara was the most important fort in the 
West. There were then inside of the walls twenty buildings, at 
least four of them solid stone structures. It had accommodations 
for one thousand men; its fortifications embraced some eight 
acres; its land side was heavily fortified; its lake and river sides 
being further protected by the steep banks. Its earthwork 
fortifications and four stone buildings, the former several times 
repaired, are today substantially as they were then. 

**The story of the siege and capture of Fort Niagara need not 
be told here, but its surrender to the British in July, 1759, put 
an end forever to French control along this frontier. 

"During the time both of her earlier influence and of her 
subsequent control over this region, which jointly extended over 
a period of ninety years, France had built twelve forts on the 
Niagara River, all on its eastern bank. Of these, one (Conti) 
had been accidentally burned; one (deNonville) had been com- 
pulsorily abandoned; one (second Little Niagara) had been in- 
tentionally destroyed; four (LaSalle, Hennepin, first Little 
Niagara and Joncaire's) had been allowed to decay; two (first 
and second Fort Niagara) were now included in the third and 
greater fort of that name; while three (third Niagara, one at 
the foot and one at the top of the mountain) passed into the 
hands of the victorious British." 

In another part of his pamphlet Mr. Porter says, with particu- 
lar reference to the exact area of the Niagara frontier and its 
importance then and importance now: 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 19 

"It is doubtful if there is elsewhere in North America an area 
of equal size, whose history better exhibits, first the explorations 
and later the contentions among the nations during the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries for the control of territory and 
trade, than the strip of land which embraces the banks of the 
Niagara River, the connecting link, thirty-six miles long, between 
Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. For Niagara was the key to all 
the West; its portage of seven miles around the Falls being the 
only break in an all- water journey between Fort Frontenac and 
the far ends of all the upper lakes. Spain, Holland, Sweden, 
France and Britain all coveted and all secured a foothold on this 
continent. The tenures of Holland and Sweden were of com- 
paratively short duration. Spain, with longer occupancy and 
larger possessions (her territory lying to the south) made but 
little progress in the settlement of the country. France settled 
the northern and Britain the central Atlantic coast. Both 
gradually but surely increased their areas, extending their 
control westward, until, in their inevitable contest for supremacy, 
France was entirely dispossessed. These two were the only Euro- 
pean nations that ever secured any foothold whatever on the 
Niagara. 

"The territory, known in history as the 'Niagara Frontier,' 
received its commonly accepted geographical boundaries at the 
hands of Sir William Johnson, who, so far as dealing with the 
various Indian tribes, was the most influential white man who 
ever trod this continent. At the great treaty held by him, in 
behalf of Great Britain, at Fort Niagara in 1764, there were 
present representatives of many Indian tribes from the east, 
west, north and south; from the Hudson and from the Missis- 
sippi; from near the frozen regions of Hudson's Bay, and from 
the sunny lands of the Arkansas. A British army (under com- 
mand of General Bradstreet) then on its western journey, lay 
encamped at the fort. With such an argument, and with their 
recent hostilities to the British fresh in their minds, 'the Chenuseo 
Indians and other enemy Senecas' were in no position to refuse 
Sir William's request for a large grant of land. Only three 
months before, in expiation of the 'Devil's Hole Massacre,' they 
had agreed (though it is doubtful if they ever intended to fulfill 
the agreement) to grant to Great Britain the lands along both 
banks of the Niagara River, from a point some two miles above 



20 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

the Falls to Lake Ontario. The grant was to be signed at a 
Treaty Conference to be held at Fort Niagara during the coming 
summer. When it assembled, the non-attendance of the Senecas 
caused Sir William to send and demand their immediate appear- 
ance, under threat of annihilation. They came at once, and when 
they arrived he calmly requested them to enlarge their promised 
grant so as to include both sides of the river from the Falls to 
Lake Erie, of the width of two miles on each bank, and to form- 
ally complete the transaction at once. So the Senecas promptly 
'surrendered to his Majesty for his sole use and that of the 
garrison,' the territory four miles wide, that is, two miles back 
from the river on each bank, along both sides of the Niagara 
River from its source to its mouth. The Senecas also now pre- 
sented all the islands in that river to Sir William, who immediately 
transferred them to the Crown. 

*'He wanted Great Britain to have a record title to all this 
territory from lake to lake. At its northern end was situated the 
famous Fort Niagara, the key to the entrance to the western 
country. Near its center was that indispensable portage around 
the Cataracts. Along the seven miles of that portage and for its 
proper protection, the army had just completed eleven block- 
houses, and had also built a blockhouse at the brow of the moun- 
tain; while for the defense respectively of its upper and lower 
terminals, it had built, but three years before, Fort Schlosser and 
a new fort just below the mountain. The Niagara portage in 
the fall of 1764 was the best protected highway in all America. 

"At the source of the river, without even the formality of asking 
the permission of the Senecas who owned the soil, a depot of 
supplies (the first Fort Erie) had just been built by the British 
army, and was now 'defensible,' though not fully completed. 
That he might have a legal title to this territory, where he had 
just built so many forts, and the specific legal, as well as martial 
right to maintain them, was the white man's reason for demanding 
that the red man publicly deed away the Niagara Frontier, and 
for compelling him to do so." 

With reference to the building of the first Fort Niagara and 
the beginning of the struggle between the French and the English 
for the control of the Niagara Frontier, it is necessary to consider 
the administration of Marquis deNonville as Governor of New 
France and his expedition against the Senecas. History tells 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 21 

us that the tribes betrayed by LaBarre's treaty could no longer 
be depended upon for beavers unless something were done to 
protect them, and procure their respect, as well as that of the 
Iroquois. DeNonville therefore made it his chief concern to 
chastise the Senecas, who were foremost in hostility to the 
French. For that purpose, in the summer of 1C87, he assembled 
nearly three thousand French and Indians, including Algonquins, 
who had come via Niagara from a thousand miles up the lakes, 
at Irondequoit Bay, now in Monroe County. To give an idea of 
deNonville's operations, we find in Paris Document No. 3 an 
extract from the King's instructions to the Marquis deNonville 
under date of March 10, 1685, as follows: 

"His principal object ought to be to establish the repose of 
the Colony by a firm and solid peace. But to render this peace 
durable he must lower the pride of the Iroquois, support the 
Illinois and the other allies whom Sir de la Barre has abandoned, 
and by a firm and vigorous policy to let the said Iroquois know 
that they will have everything to fear if they do not submit 
to the conditions which he intends to impose on them. 

"He will, then, first declare to them that he shall protect 
with all his power the allies of the French; inform the Illinois, 
the Ontaouacs, Miamis and others of the same thing, and should 
he deem it proper to back this declaration by troops and an 
expedition against the Senecas, His Majesty leaves it to him to 
adopt, in his regard, such resolutions as he shall deem most 
suitable, being well persuaded that he will follow the best course, 
and that his experience in war will place him in a position to bring 
that to a speedy conclusion if he be obliged to undertake it. 

"He ought to be informed that the Commandant of New 
York has pretended to aid the Iroquois and to extend the English 
domination even to the bank of the River St. Lawrence and 
over the whole extent of Country inhabited by those Savages. 
And though His Majesty doubts not but the King of England 
to whom he has made representations by his Ambassador, will 
give orders to his Commandant to put a stop to these unjust 
pretensions, he, notwithstanding, considers it necessary to 
explain to him that he ought to do everything to maintain good 
understanding between the French and English. Yet should the 
latter, contrary to every appearance, rouse the Savages and 
afford them succor, he must act towards them as towards enemies. 



22 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

when he finds them in the Indian Country, without, however, 
attempting anything in the countries under the King of Eng- 
land's obedience." 

From a memoir concerning the present state of Canada and 
the measures that may be adopted for the security of the 
country under date of November 12th, 1685, the following extract 
is taken: 

"It appears to me extremely important that the King render 
himself absolute master of this Lake, which is more than three 
hundred leagues in circumference. I am persuaded that the 
English would like particularly to have a post there, which 
would be immensely prejudicial to the Colony and the King's 
power on this Continent; his Majesty could easily make himself 
master of it, without any opposition, by the permanent estab- 
lishment of a post, with vessels on this Lake, and by another 
fort and vessels on Lake Erie, which is only two leagues distant, 
by the Niagara River, from this Lake Ontario; but as this post 
cannot be established until after the Iroquois are conquered, 
I shall, before entering into a detail of the means of conquering 
that Nation, again say, regarding the importance of occupying 
those posts, that the English have so great a facility to establish 
themselves there that it is the power of the Iroquois alone which 
has prevented them having posts here, since Lake Ontario can 
easily be reached on horseback from Manatte and Orange, there 
being a distance of only one hundred leagues through a fine 
country." 

Under date of May 8th, 1686, we find from the Paris Docu- 
ments that Marquis de Nonville wrote to the Minister as follows : 

"I learn that the news which I had the honour to send you 
of the appearance on Lakes Ontario and Erie of English Canoes 
accompanied by French Deserters on their way to the Outaouacs 
is true. There are ten of them loaded with merchandise. There- 
upon, my Lord, I sent orders to Missilimakina, to Catarokouy 
and other places where we had Frenchmen, to run and seize 
them, and I am resolved to send another officer with twelve 
reliable men to join Sieur D'Orvilliers at Catarosky, who is to 
go with Sieur de LaSalle's bark to Niagara to treat there with 
the Iroquois Indians on their return from hunting. He will take 
some men with him. This officer, with the aid of this bark and 
some canoes which shall be furnished him, will post himself 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 23 

with twenty good men at the River, communicating from the 
Lake Erie with that of Ontario, near Niagara, by which place 
the EngHsh who ascended Lake Erie must of necessity pass on 
their return home with their peltries. I regard, my Lord, as of 
primary importance, the prohibition of this trade to the English, 
who, without doubt, would entirely ruin ours both by the cheaper 
bargains thej' could give the Indians and by attracting to them 
the Frenchmen of our Colony who are accustomed to go into 
the woods. 

"I am persuaded that the Iroquois are very anxious for peace 
now that they see troops, but I do not at all believe that they 
will submit not to make war any more against the other Nations 
our allies, therefore there is no doubt but we must prepare to 
humble them. 

"What I should consider most effectual to accomplish this 
would be the establishment of a right good post at Niagara. 

"The manner in which the English have managed with the 
Iroquois hitherto, when desirous to establish themselves in their 
neighborhood, has been to make them presents for the purchase 
of the soil and the property of the land they wish to occupy. 
What I see most certain is, whether we act so by them or have 
peace or war with them, they will submit with considerable im- 
patience to see a fort built at Niagara which would secure to us 
the communication between the two lakes ; would render us mas- 
ters of the road the Senecas take in going to hunt for furs, none 
of which they have on their own ground; it is likewise their 
rendezvous when hunting for their supplies of meat with which, 
as well as with all sorts of fish, this country abounds. 

"This post would be of great advantage to the other nations 
who are at war with these, and who durst not approach them, 
having too long a road to travel when retreating. It would keep 
them in check and in obedience, especially by building a Fort 
sufficiently large to contain a force of four hundred or five hundred 
men to make war on them; this cannot be done without expense 
because it must be enclosed by a simple, ordinary picket fence 
to place it beyond all insult, not being in a position to be relieved 
by us. 

"To guarantee its construction, it must not be doubted for 
a moment, though at peace with them, but a guard would be 
necessary there for the security of the workmen. The freight of 



24 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

provisions as well as for the garrison as the troops to be stationed 
there is very high, since a thousand pounds weight which is a load 
for a canoe, costs 110 liv. from Ville Marie on the Island of 
Montreal to Catarakouy. Independent of mere provisions, how 
many other necessaries and munitions are required! 

"This post, my Lord, would absolutely close the entire road 
to the Outaouacs against the English, and would enable us to 
prevent the Iroquois carrying their peltries to the latter; for 
with the redoubt at Catarokouy which would serve us as an 
Entrepot to shelter our barks from the storms in winter, we 
having posts at both sides of the Lake could render ourselves 
Masters of the Hunting of that Nation who can support itself 
merely by that means and would draw but little from the Eng- 
lish if it had no more peltries to give them. What is very certain, 
they would carry them much fewer than heretofore. 

*'I propose to send Sieur d'Orvilliers to Niagara this year with 
Sieur de Villeneuve, the draughtsman whom you gave me, to 
draw the plans, and after I shall have seen the Iroquois at Ville 
Marie on the Island of Montreal and we shall know what we 
have to expect from them, I'll see if I shall not be able to take a 
trip thither myself, in order to furnish you with a more certain 
report thereon; for to rely on Sieur de Villeneuve alone, he is a 
very good, very accurate, very faithful draughtsman, but in 
other respects he has not a very well ordered mind ; it is too con- 
fined to be able to furnish out of his own head any ideas for the 
establishment of a post and its management. 

"I am assured that the land in the neighborhood is very 
fine and fertile, easy of cultivation ; it is situate about the forty- 
fourth degree. Everything I learn confirms me in the opinion 
which I entertain, that this post would, in three years at farthest, 
support itself. It is to be feared that fortifying it would draw 
war on us, if you wish to avoid it; but at the same time I believe 
that were the Senecas to see us well planted there, they would 
be more pliant. 

"Should this plan be agreeable to you, my Lord, please send 
masons and plenty of instruments to break up the ground and 
convey the stone. 

"You will be surprised, my Lord, to learn that Sieur de 
Chailly of whom I had the honor to write you this fall, not being 
able to have his conge from me to retire to France with all his 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 25 

property which he sent off last year, before my arrival, has fled 
and deserted the Country, to pass over the Orange (Albany) 
and thence without doubt by way of England to France. 

"What is disagreeable in it is, that he will have informed 
Governor Dongan of everything he knows of our expeditions to 
the Baie du Nord (Hudson's Bay), and has learned of the inter- 
ests of the country and our designs. I beg of you, my Lord, to 
permit the confiscation of whatever property may be found 
belonging to him for the benefit of the two hospitals of the 
Colony." 

Governor Dongan replied to the above letter from Albany 
under date of May 22d, 1686, as follows: 

"Sir — I have sent for the five Nations of Indians yt belongs 
to this Government to meet me at this place, to give them in 
charge that they should not goe to your side of the Great Lakes 
nor disturbe your Indians and Traders, but since my coming here 
I am informed that our Indians are apprehensive of warr by 
your putting stores into Cataract (Cataraqui) and ordering 
some forces to meet there. I know you are a man of judgment 
and that j^ou will not attack the King of England's subjects. 
Being informed that those Indians with whom our Indians are 
engaged in warr, with, are to the West and Southwest of the 
greate Lakes (if so) in reason you can have no pretence to them. 
It is my intention that our Indians shall not warr with the 
farr Indians. Whether they doe or not it does not seem reason- 
able that you should engage yourself in the quarrell of Indians 
wee pretend too, against our own Indians. Whether these 
Territories belong to our or the French King is not to be decided 
here, but by our Masters at home; and your business & mine 
is to take Mapps of the Country so well as wee can and to send 
them home for the limits to be adjusted there. 

*'I am likewise informed that you are intended to build a 
fort at a place called Ohniagero on this side of the Lake within 
my Masters territories without question (I cannot believe it) 
that a person that has your reputation in the world would follow 
the steps of Monsr. Labarre and be ill advised by some interested 
persons in your Government to make disturbance between our 
Masters subjects in these parts of the world for a little pillitree; 
when all these differences may be ended by an amicable corre- 
spondence between us. If there be anything amiss, I doe assure 



26 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

you it shall not be my fault though we have suffered much, and 
doe dayly by your people's trading within the King of England's 
territory es. I have had two letters from the two Fathers that 
lives amongst our Indians, and I find them somewhat disturbed 
with an apprehension of war, which is groundlesse, being resolved 
that it shall not begin here, and I hope your prudent conduct 
will prevent it there, and referr all diflferences home as I shall 
doe. I heare one of the Fathers is gone to you, and the other 
that staid I have sent for him here lest the Indians should insult 
over him, tho' its a thousand pittys that those that have made 
such progresse in the service of God should be disturbed, and that 
by the fault of those that laid the foundation of Christianity 
amongst these barbarous people. 

"Setting apart the station I am in I am as much Monsr. 
Desnonville's humble servant as any friend he has, and will 
omitt noe opportunity of manifesting the same Sr, Your humble 
Servt, Thos. Dongan." 

It would appear from the Marquis deNonville's letters to 
Governor Dongan that the French were not endeavoring to grasp 
control of the Frontier or to fortify the mouth of the river. But 
that was exactly what they were trying to do. What deNonville 
and his men actually did do will appear from the following 
extract from his diary: 

"26th (July). We set out for Niagara, resolved to occupy 
that post as a retreat for all our Indian allies, and thus afford 
them means of continuing, in small detachments, the war against 
the enemy whom they have not been able to harass hitherto, 
being too distant from them, and having no place to retire to. 
Although it is only thirty leagues from Ganniatarontagouat 
(Irondequoit) to Niagara, we were unable to accomplish the 
distance in less than four days and a half by reason of contrary 
winds; that is to say, we arrived there on the morning of the 
30th. We immediately set about selecting a site, and collecting 
stockades for the construction of the fort which I had resolved 
to build on the Iroquois side at the point of a tongue of land 
between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. 

"31st of July & 1st of August. We continued this work, 
which was the more difficult as there was no wood on the ground 
suitable for making palisades, and from its being necessary to 
haul them up the hill. We performed this labor so diligently 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 27 

that the fort was in a state of defense on the last-mentioned 
day. ..." 

'*2d of August. The MiHtia having performed their allotted 
task, and the fort being in a condition of defense, in case of attack, 
they set out at noon for the end of the lake, on their return home. 

"3d. The next day I embarked in the morning for the purpose 
of joining the militia, leaving the regular troops in charge of 
M. deVaudreuil, to finish what was the most essential, and to ren- 
der the fort not only capable of defense, but also of being occupied 
by a detachment of a hundred soldiers, which are to winter there 
under the command of M. de Troves, a veteran oflBcer." 

A little later the Marquis wrote to the minister, Seignelay: 

"The post I have fortified at Niagara is not a novelty, since 
Sieur de LaSalle had a house there, which is in ruins since a year, 
when Serjeant La Fleur, whom I placed at Cataracouy, abandoned 
it through the intrigues of the English, who solicited the Senecas 
to expel him by threats. My Lord, if you do not wish to lose the 
entire trade of the upper country, we must maintain that post; 
also that of Dulhu, at the Detroit, and the possession of all the 
lakes." 

From Paris Document No. 4 is taken a description of the 
condition in which Fort Niagara was left in 1688: 

"On the 15th day of September, of the year one thousand, 
six hundred and eighty and eight, in the forenoon Sieur Des- 
bergeres, Captain of one of the companies of the detachment 
of the marine. Commandant of Fort Niagara, having assembled 
all the officers, the Reverend Father Millet, of the Society of 
Jesus, Missionary, and others, to communicate to them the orders 
he received from the Marquis deNonville, Governor and Lieu- 
tenant General for the King in the whole extent of New France 
and Country of Canada, dated the sixth day of July, of the 
present year, wherein he is ordered to demolish the fortification 
of the said fort, with the exception of the cabins and quarters, 
which will be found standing (en nature); we. Chevalier de La 
Mottat, Lieutenant of a detached company of the marine, and 
Major of said fort, have made a progress verbal, by order of said 
Commandant, containing a memorandum of the condition in 
which we leave said quarters which will remain entire, to mani- 
tain the possession, his Majesty and the French have for a long 
time had in this Niagara District: Firstly, we leave in the center 



28 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

of the square a large, framed, wooden cross, 18 feet in height, 
on the arms of which are inscribed in large letters, these words: 

REGN. VINC. IMP. CHRS. 

which was erected on last Good Friday by all the officers and 
solenmly blessed by the Reverend Father Millet. 

"Item, A cabin in which the Commandant loged, containing 
a good chimney, a door and two windows furnished with their 
hinges, fastenings and locks, which cabin is covered with forty- 
four deal boards, and about six other boards arranged inside into 
a sort of bedstead. 

"Item. In the immediate vicinity of said cabin is another cabin 
with two rooms having each its chimney; ceiled with boards, 
and in each a little window and three bedsteads, the door fur- 
nished with its hinges and fastenings; the said cabin is covered 
with fifty deal boards and there are sixty like boards on each 
side. 

"Item, Right in front is the Rev. Father Millett's cabin 
furnished with its chimney, windows and sashes; with shelves, 
a bedstead and four boards arranged inside, with the door fur- 
nished with its fastenings and hinges, the which is of twenty -four 
boards. 

"Item, Another cabin opposite the cross, in which there is a 
chimney, board ceiling, three bedsteads, covered with forty-two 
boards, with three like boards on one side of said cabin, there is 
a window with its sash and a door furnished with its hinges and 
fastenings. 

"Item, Another cabin with a chimney, a small window with 
a sash and a door; covered with thirty deal boards; there are 
three bedsteads inside. 

"Item, A bakehouse furnished with its oven and chimney 
partly covered with boards and the remainder with hurdles and 
clay; also an apartment at the end of said bakery containing 
two chimneys; there are in said bakery a window and door 
furnished with its hinges and fastenings. 

"Item, Another large and extensive frame building having a 
double door with nails, hinges and fastenings, with three small 
windows; the said apartment is without a chimney; 'tis floored 
with twelve plank (Madriers) and about twelve boards are 
arranged inside; without, 'tis clapboarded with eighty-two plank. 



EARLY NIAGARA HISTORY 29 

Item, A large storehouse covered with one hundred and thirty 
boards, surrounded by pillars eight feet high, in which there are 
many pieces of wood serving as small joists, and partly floored 
with several unequal plank. There is a window and a sliding 
sash. 

"Item, above the scarp of the ditch a well with its cover. 

"All which apartments are in the same condition in which 
they were last winter, and consequently inhabitable. Which all 
witnesses, namel,y, the Rev. Father Millet of the Society of Jesus, 
Missionary; Sieur Desbergeres, Captain and Commandant; Sieurs 
de la Mottat, La Rabelle, DeMuratre, deClerin & Sieurs de 
Gemerais, Chevalier, deTregay, all lieutenants and officers, and 
Maheut, Pilot of the Bark the General, now in the roadstead, 
certified to have seen and visited all the said apartment, and have 
therefore signed the minute and original of these presence." 



*3 



CHAPTER III 



FIRST ACCOUNT OF THE FALLS 
IN ENGLISH 

Text of a Letter Written by Peter Kalm, a Gentleman of Sweden, 
During His Travels in America, to a Friend in Philadelphia 



ONE of the most interesting pieces of literature pertaining 
to the Niagara Frontier is the earliest account of Niagara 
Falls written in English, which is in the form of a letter 
written by Peter Kalm, a gentleman of Sweden, during his travels 
in America, to a friend in Philadelphia. The letter is reproduced, 
with its quaint phrasing, verbatim: 

"Albany, September 2, 1750. 

''Sir — After a pretty long journey made in a short time, 
I am come back to this town. You may remember, that when 
I took my leave of you, I told you, I would this summer, if time 
permitted, take a view of Niagara Falls, esteemed one of the 
greatest curiosities in the World. When I came last year from 
Quebec, you enquir'd of me several particulars concerning this 
Fall; and I told you what I heard of it in Canada, from several 
French gentlemen who had been there; but this was still all 
hearsay; I could not assure you of the truth of it, because I had 
not then seen it myself, and so it could not satisfy my own, 
much less your curiosity. Now, since I have been on the spot, 
it is in my power to give you a more perfect and satisfactory 
description of it. 

"After a fatiguing travel, first on horseback thro' the country 
of the Six Indian Nations, to Oswego, and from thence in a 
Canoe upon Lake Ontario, I came on the 12th of August in the 
evening to Niagara Fort. The French there seemed much 

(30) 



FIRST ACCOUNT IN ENGLISH SI 

perplexed at my first coming, imagining I was an English officer, 
who under pretext of seeing Niagara Falls, came with some 
other view; but as soon as I shew'd them my passports, they 
changed their behaviour, and received me with the greatest 
civility. Niagara Falls is six French leagues from Niagara Fort. 
You first go three leagues by water up Niagara River, and then 
three leagues over the carrying place. As it was late when I 
arriv'd at the Fort, I could not the same day go to the Fall, but 
I prepar'd myself to do it the next morning. The commandant 
of the Fort, Monsr. Beaujon, invited all the oflBcers and gentlemen 
there to supper with him. I had read formerly almost all the 
authors that have wrote anything about this Fall; and the last 
year in Canada, had made so many enquiries about it, that I 
thought I had a pretty good idea of it, and now at supper re- 
quested the gentlemen to tell me all they knew and thought 
worth notice relating to it, which they accordingly did. I 
observed that in many things they all agreed, in some things 
they were of different opinions, of all which I took particular 
notice. When they had told me all they knew, I made several 
queries to them concerning what I had read and heard of it, 
whether such and such a thing was true or not and had their 
answers on every circumstance. But as I have found by expe- 
rience in my other travels, that very few observe Nature's works 
with accuracy, or report the truth precisely, I cannot now be 
entirely satisfied without seeing with my own eyes whenever 
'tis in my power. Accordingly the next morning, being the 
13th of August, at break of day, I set out for the Fall. The 
commandant had given orders to two of the OflBcers of the Fort 
to go with me and show me everything, and also sent by them 
an order to Mons. Jonqueire, who had liv'd ten years by the 
carrying-place, and knew everything worth notice of the Fall, 
better than any other person, to go with me, and show and tell 
me whatever he knew. A little before we came to the carrying- 
place, the water of the Niagara River grew so rapid that four 
men in a light birch canoe had much diflRculty to get up thither. 
Canoes can go half a league above the beginning of the carrying- 
place, tho' they must work against a water extremely rapid; 
but higher up it is quite impossible, the whole course of the water 
for two leagues and a half up to the great Fall being a series of 
smaller Falls, one under another, in which the greatest Canoe 



32 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

or Battoe would in a moment be turn'd upside down. We went 
ashore, therefore, and walk'd over the carrjang-place, having 
besides the high and steep side of the river two great hills to 
ascend, one above the other. Here on the carrying-place I saw 
above two hundred Indians, most of them belonging to the Six 
Nations, busy in carrying packs of furs, chiefly of deer and bear, 
over the carrying-place. You would be surpriz'd to see what 
abundance of these things are brought every day over this place. 
An Indian gets twenty pence for every pack he carries over, 
the distance being three leagues. Half an hour past 10 in the 
morning we came to the great Fall, which I found as follows: 
To the river (or rather strait) runs here from S. S. E. to N. N. W. 
and the rocks of the great Fall cross it, not in a right line; but 
forming almost the figure of a semicircle or horseshoe. 

"Above the Fall, in the middle of the river is an island, lying 
also S. S. E. and N. N. W. or parallel with the sides of the river; 
its length is about seven or eight French arpents (an arpent 
being 180 feet). The lower end of this Island is just at the per- 
pendicular edge of the Fall. On both sides of this island runs all 
the water that comes from the lakes of Canada, viz: Lake Supe- 
rior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie, which you 
know are rather small seas than lakes, and have besides a great 
many large rivers that empty their water in them, of which the 
greatest part come down this Niagara Fall. Before the water 
comes to this island, it runs but slowly, compared with its motion 
when it approaches the island, where it grows the most rapid 
water in the World, running with a surprising swiftness before 
it comes to the Fall; it is quite white, and in many places is 
thrown high up into the air! The greatest and strongest battoes 
would here in a moment be turned over and over. The water 
that goes down on the west side of the island is more rapid, in 
greater abundance, whiter, and seems almost to outdo an arrow 
in swiftness. When you are at the Fall, and look up the river, 
you may see that the river above the Fall is everywhere exceed- 
ing steep, almost as the side of a hill. When all this water comes 
to the very Fall, there it throws itself down perpendicular! It 
is beyond all belief the surprise when j^ou see this! I cannot 
with words express how amazing it is ! You cannot see it without 
being quite terrified; to behold so vast a quantity of water 
falling from a surprising height! I doubt not but you have a 



FIRST ACCOUNT IN ENGLISH 33 

desire to learn the exact height of this great Fall. Father Henne- 
pin supposes it 600 Feet perpendicular; but he has gained little 
credit in Canada; the name of honour they give him there, is 
un grand Menteur, or The great Liar; he writes of what he saw 
in places where he never was. 'Tis true he saw this Fall; but 
as it is the way of some travellers to magnify everything, so has 
he done with regard to the Fall of Niagara. This humour of travel- 
lers, lias occasioned me many disappointments in my travels, 
having seldom been so happy as to find the wonderful things 
that had been related by others. For my part, who am not 
fond of the ]\[arvellous, I like to see things just as they are, and 
so to relate them. Since Father Hennepin's time, this Fall, by 
all accounts that have been given of it, has grown less and less; 
and those who have measured it with mathematical instruments 
find the perpendicular fall of the water to be exactly 137 feet. 
Monsr. Morandrier, the king's engineer in Canada, assured me, 
and gave it me also under his hand, that 137 feet was precisely 
the height of it; and all the French Gentlemen that were present 
with me at the Fall, did agree with him, without the least contra- 
diction. It is true those who have tried to measure it with a 
line find it sometimes 140, sometimes 150 feet, and sometimes 
more; but the reason is, it cannot that way be measured with 
any certainty, the water carrying away the Line. When the 
water is come down to the bottom of the rock of the Fall, it 
jumps back to a very great length in the air; in other places it 
is white as milk or snow; and all in motion like a boiling chaldron. 
You may remember to what a great distance Hennepin says the 
noise of this great Fall may be heard. All the gentlemen who 
were with me agreed that the farthest one can hear it is fifteen 
leagues, and that very seldom. When the air is quite calm, 
you can hear it to Niagara Fort; but seldom at other times, 
because when the wind blows, the waves of Lake Ontario make 
too much noise there against the Shore. They informed me 
that when they hear at the Fort the noise of the Fall, louder than 
ordinary, they are sure a North East Wind will follow, which 
never fails; this seems wonderful, as the Fall is South West from 
the Fort, and one would imagine it to be rather a sign of a contrary 
wind. Sometimes, 'tis said, the Fall makes a much greater noise 
than at other times; and this is looked upon as a certain mark 
of approaching bad weather, or rain; the Indians here hold it 



34 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

always for a sure sign. When I was there it did not make an 
extraordinary great noise; just by the Fall we could easily hear 
what each other said, without speaking much louder than com- 
mon when conversing in other places, I do not know how others 
have found so great a noise here, perhaps it was at certain times, 
as above-mentioned. From the Place where the water falls, 
there rise abundance of vapours, like the greatest and thickest 
smoak, sometimes more, sometimes less; these vapours rise high 
in the air when it is calm, but are dispersed by the wind when 
it blows hard. If you go nigh to this vapour or fog, or if the 
wind blows it on you, it is so penetrating that in a few minutes 
you will be as wet as if you had been under water. I got two 
young Frenchmen to go down, to bring me from the side of the 
Fall at the bottom, some of each of the several kinds of herbs, 
stones and shells they should find there; they returned in a few 
minutes, and I really thought they had fallen into the water; 
they were obliged to strip themselves quite naked, and hang 
their clothes in the sun to dry. When you are on the other East 
side of the Lake Ontario, a great many leagues from the Fall, 
you may, every clear and calm morning, see the vapours of the 
Fall rising in the air; you would think all the woods thereabouts 
were set on fire by the Indians, so great is the apparent smoak. 
In the same manner you may see it on the West side of the Lake 
Erie, a great many leagues off. 

"Several of the French gentlemen told me that when birds 
come flying into this fog or smoak of the Fall, they fall down and 
perish in the Water; either because their wings are become wet, 
or that the noise of the Fall astonishes them, and they know not 
where to go in the Dark; but others were of opinion that seldom 
or never any bird perishes there in that manner; because, as 
they all agreed, among the abundance of birds found dead below 
the fall, there are no other sorts than such as live and swim 
frequently in the water; as swans, geese, ducks, water-hens, 
teal, and the like. And very often great flocks of them are seen 
going to destruction in this manner : they swim in the river above 
the Fall, and so are carried down lower and lower by the water, 
and as water-fowl commonly take great delight in being carried 
with the stream, so here they indulge themselves in enjoying this 
pleasure so long, till the swiftness of the water becomes so great 
that 'tis no longer possible for them to rise, but they are driven 



FIRST ACCOUNT IN ENGLISH 35 

tlown the precipice, and perish. They are observed when they 
draw nigh to the Fall, to endeavor with all their might to take 
wing and leave the water, but they cannot. In the months of 
September and October, such abundant quantities of dead 
water fowl are found every morning below the Fall, on the shore, 
that the garrison of the fort for a long time live chiefly upon 
them; besides the fowl they find also several sorts of dead fish, 
also deer, bears, and other larger animals are generally found 
broken to pieces. Just below the fall of the water is not rapid, 
but goes all in circles, and whiter, like a boiling pot; which, 
however, doth not hinder the Indians going upon it in small 
canoes a fishing; but a little lower begins the smaller fall. When 
you are above the Fall, and look down, your head begins to turn; 
the French who have been here a hundred times will seldom 
venture to look down, without at the same time keeping fast 
hold of some tree with one hand. 

"It was formerly thought impossible for anybody living to 
come at the island that is in the middle of the Fall; but an acci- 
dent that happened twelve years ago, or thereabouts, made it 
appear otherwise; the history is this. Two Indians of the Six 
Nations went out from Niagara Fort, to hunt upon an island 
that is in the middle of the river, or strait, above the great Fall, 
on which there used to be abundance of deer. They took some 
French brandy with them, from the fort, which they tasted several 
times as they were going over the carrying place; and when 
they were in the canoe, they took now and then a dram, and so 
went along up the strait towards the island where they proposed 
to hunt; but growing sleepy, they laid themselves down in the 
canoe, which, getting loose, drove back with the stream, farther 
and farther down till it came nigh that island that is in the 
middle of the Fall. Here one of them, awakened by the noise 
of the Fall, cries out to the other that they were gone, yet they 
tried if possible to save life. This island was nighest, and with 
much working they got on shore there. At first they were glad; 
but when they had considered everything, they thought them- 
selves hardly in a better state than if they had gone down the 
Fall, since they had now no other choice, than either to throw 
themselves down the same, or to perish with hunger. But hard 
necessity put them on invention. At the lower end of the island 
the rock is perpendicular, and no water is running there. This 



36 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

island has plenty of wood; they went to work directly and made 
a ladder of shrouds of the bark of linden tree (which is very 
tough and strong), so long 'till they could with it reach the 
water below; one end of this bark ladder they tied fast to a great 
tree that grew at the side of the rock above the Fall, and let the 
other end down to the water. So they went down along their 
new-invented stairs, and when they came to the bottom in the 
middle of the Fall, they rested a little; and as the water next 
below the Fall is not rapid, as before mentioned, they threw 
themselves into it, thinking to swim on shore. I have said before 
that one part of the Fall is on one side of the island, the other on 
the other side. Hence it is, that the waters of the two cataracts 
running against each other, turn back against the rock that is 
just under the island. Therefore, hardly had the Indians began 
to swim before the waves of the eddy threw them with violence 
against the rock from whence they came. They tried it several 
times, but at last grew brus'd and the skin of their bodies torn 
in many places. So they were obliged to climb up their stairs 
again to the island, not knowing what to do. After some time 
they perceived Indians on the shore, to whom thej^ cried out. 
These saw and pity'd them, but gave them little hopes of help; 
yet they made haste down to the fort, and told the commander 
where two of their brethren were. He persuaded them to try 
all possible means of relieving the two poor Indians; and it was 
done in this manner. The water that runs on the east side of 
this island is shallow, especially a little above the island towards 
the eastern shore. The commandant caused poles to be made 
and pointed with iron; two Indians determined to walk to this 
island by the help of these poles, to save the other poor creatures, 
or perish themselves. They took leave of all their friends as if 
they were going to death. Each had two such poles in his hands, 
to set against the bottom of the stream, to keep them steady. 
So they went and got to the island, and having given poles to 
the two poor Indians there, they all returned safely to the main. 
Those two Indians who in the above mentioned manner were 
first brought to this island, are yet alive. They were nine days 
on the island, and almost starved to death.* 



* These Indians had better fortune than ten or twelve Utowawas, who attempting to escape 
here the pursuit of their enemies of the Six Nations, were carried down the Cataract by the violence 
of the stream and everyone perished .... No part of their canoe being ever seen again. 



FIRST ACCOUNT IN ENGLISH 37 

"Now since the way to this island has been found, the 
Indians go there often to kill deer, which having tried to cross the 
river above the Fall were driven upon the island by the stream; 
but if the King of France would give me all Canada, I would not 
venture to go to this island; and were you to see it, Sir, I am 
sure you would have the same sentiment. On the west side of 
this island are some small islands or rocks of no consequence. 
The east side of the river is nearly perpendicular, the west side 
more sloping. In former times a part of the rock at the Fall 
which is on the west side of the island, hung over in such a manner 
that the water which fell perpendicularly from it, left a vacancy 
below, so that people could go under between the rock and the 
water; but the prominent part some years since broke off and fell 
down; so that there is now no possibility of going between the 
falling water and the rock, as the water now runs close to it all 
the way down. . . . The breadth of the Fall, as it runs into a 
semi-circle, is reckon'd to be about six arpents. The island is 
in the middle of the Fall, and from it to each side is almost the 
same breadth; the breadth of the island at its lower end is two- 
thirds of an arpent, or thereabouts. . . . Below the Fall in 
the holes of the rocks, are great plenty of Eels, which the Indians 
and the French catch with their hands without other means; 
I sent down two Indian boys, who directly came up with about 
twenty fine ones. . . . Every day, when the Sun shines, you 
see here from 10 o'clock in the morning to 2 in the afternoon, 
below the Fall, and under you, when you stand at the side over 
the Fall, a glorious rainbow and sometimes two rainbows, one 
within the other. 

'T was so happy to be at the Fall on a fine clear day, and it 
was with great delight I view'd this rainbow, which had almost 
all the colours you see in the rainbow in the air. The more 
vapours, the brighter and clearer is the rainbow. I saw it on the 
East side of the Fall in the bottom under the place where I stood, 
but above the water. When the wind carries the vapours from 
that place, the rainbow is gone, but appears again as soon as 
new vapours come. From the Fall to the landing above the 
Fall, where the canoes from Lake Erie put on shore (or from the 
Fall to the upper end of the carrying place) is half a mile. Lower 
the canoes dare not come, lest they should be obliged to try the 
fate of the two Indians, and perhaps with less success. They 



38 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

have often found below the Fall pieces of human bodies, perhaps 
of drunken Indians, that have unhappily come down the Fall. 
I was told at Oswego, that in October, or thereabouts, such 
plentj'^ of feathers are to be found here below the Fall, that a 
man in a day's time can gather enough of them for several beds, 
which feathers they said came off the birds kill'd at the Fall. 
I asked the French if this was true? They told me they had 
never seen any such thing, but that if the feathers were pick'd 
off the dead birds, there might be such a quantity. The French 
told me they had thrown whole great trees into the water above, 
to see them tumble down the Fall. They went down with sur- 
prising swiftness, but could never be seen afterwards; whence 
it was thought there was a bottomless deep or abyss just under 
the Fall. I am also of Opinion that there must be a vast deep 
here; yet I think if they had watched very well, they might 
have found the trees at some distance below the Fall. The rock 
of the Fall consists of a grey limestone. 

"Here you have. Sir, a short but exact description of this 
famous Niagara cataract; you may depend on the truth of what 
I write. You must excuse me if you find in my account no 
extravagant wonders. I cannot make Nature otherwise than 
I find it. I had rather it should be said of me in time to come 
that I related things as they were, and that all is found to agree 
with my Description, than to be esteem'd a false Relater. I 
have seen some other things in this my journey, an account of 
which I know would gratify your curiosity; but time at present 
will not permit me to write more; and I hope shortly to see you. 
I am &c., 

"Peter Kalm." 



CHAPTER IV 



THE WAR OF 1812 

Many of the Important Actions of that Conflict were Along the Niagara 
Frontier Where Fighting was Almost Continuous. Gen. 
Peter B. Porter Commanded American Forces 



THE great European War interfered very materially with 
elaborate plans that were well under way in the United 
States, Great Britain and Canada to appropriately cele- 
brate the hundredth anniversary of peace between English- 
speaking peoples, which plans were of absorbing interest to the 
people of the Niagara Frontier where was staged many of the 
important actions of the last war between the United States and 
Great Britain. Added emphasis was given to this interest by the 
meeting, at Niagara Falls, Ontario, of the mediators appointed 
to consider the Mexican situation. Within sight and sound of 
tlie world's greatest cataracts, the ABC envoys and the Ameri- 
can and Mexican Commissioners had the eyes of the civilized 
world upon them while negotiating in the interest of that uni- 
versal peace which now appeals so strongly to all thinking people. 
Toward this very desirable end, much has been accomplished 
by treaty upon the initiative of the United States in the past 
few months. It has been well said that happy are the people 
who find wisdom, and the nations that get understanding of one 
another; for out of understanding comes friendship, and out of 
friendship comes peace. 

It is interesting to note, here, in connection with the confer- 
ence of the mediators at Niagara Falls to deal with the Mexican 
question, that Andrew B. Humphrey, Secretary of the American 
Peace Committee, said at the Lake Mohonk Conference in 1911 
that "it is significant that the signing of the Treaty of Ghent 

(39) 



40 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

on Christmas Eve, 1814, was not brought about by the com- 
missioners, for, after they had been in conference for pretty 
nearly six months, the two nations, themselves, forced by a strong 
public sentiment among the peoples of both countries demanding 
peace, directed the commissioners to conclude a peace pact 
regardless of the claims set forth by the commissioners and their 
representative governments. Thus the Ghent Treaty was con- 
cluded without reference to the matters which brought on the 
war. The treaty was forced by public sentiment, and is a monu- 
ment to that greater force than war — irresistible public opinion." 

The centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which 
established lasting peace between America and Great Britain, 
as well as the plan to signalize, in fitting manner, the peace 
which has existed between the United States, Great Britain, and 
other nations, is of especial interest to the Niagara Frontier 
because this region was the chief theatre of the War of 1812-14, 
and is the only section where the fighting was practically 
continuous. One hundred years ago bloody battles were fought 
on the Canadian side of the Niagara River, at Fort Erie, Chip- 
pewa, Lundy's Lane and Queenston, between contending armies 
speaking the same tongue. 

The war was declared by the President, between the United 
States and Great Britain, June 19th, 1812. In the order of their 
location, coming down the river from Lake Erie, and their 
mention above, rather than priority of date, the Battle of Lake 
Erie was fought September 17th, 1814. It was a sortie, and 
afterwards Sir William Napier wrote that "it is the only instance 
in history of a besieging army being absolutely routed in a single 
sortie." This sortie was planned and led by General Peter B. 
Porter of Niagara Falls. The one hundred years peace anniver- 
sary is also of particular interest because General Porter, a 
resident of the Niagara Frontier, was commander of the American 
forces in this section in the War of 1812. General Porter was 
also Secretary of State of the State of New York, representative 
in Congress for this district. Secretary of War in the Cabinet 
of President John Quincy Adams, and a member of the American 
Boundary Commission of 1819. His son. Colonel Peter A. 
Porter, led a regiment to the Civil War from the Niagara Fron- 
tier, and was killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, while his grandson, 
Honorable Peter A. Porter, as a member of the State Legislature, 



THE WAR OF 1812 41 

secured the franchises for The Niagara Falls Power Company 
which inaugurated the era of electrical power, and was a repre- 
sentative in Congress like his grandfather. 

The Battle of Chippewa was fought within sight of the Falls 
of Niagara July 5th, 1814. Batteries were located on both sides 
of the mouth of Chippewa Creek during the War of 1812. 

On July 25th, 1814, at another picturesque spot, in sight and 
sound of the great cataracts, in fact on the highest point of land 
in this section, was fought the Battle of Lundy's Lane. The 
setting was particularly spectacular in view of the fact that the 
battle was commenced late in the afternoon and continued 
until midnight by moonlight. This battle is also especially dis- 
tinguished by the fact that both armies claim to have won it, 
and it is said to have been the only battle in history which both 
sides claim to have won. That situation obtains even to this 
day, and until recent years, the Canadians annually celebrated 
the alleged victory of British arms. 

Upon the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the 
Battle of Lundy's Lane, July 25th, 1914, an impressive celebra- 
tion took place in the cemeterj^ upon this battlefield, participated 
in by both Americans and British, and interesting addresses were 
delivered by distinguished citizens of the United States and 
Canada. The era of good feeling between the Americans and 
British really had its inception at Niagara Falls, New York, 
May 1, 1898, when the 42d Separate Company, of Niagara Falls, 
New York, a part of the New York State Militia, marched away 
to take part in the Spanish- American War, the British came 
over from Niagara Falls, Ontario, and walked side by side with 
the American soldiers, while the Stars and Stripes and LTnion 
Jack floated together in the sunlight. This was on the same 
date as Admiral Dewey's famous victory at Manila Bay. 

On October 12, 1812, another battle was fought, at Queenston 
Heights, which the British won, but at which the British com- 
mander. General Brock, was killed. Upon the escarpment above 
the battlefield, where it can be seen for many miles around, 
stands a noble monument erected to the memory of General 
Brock. From its top is obtained one of the most magnificent 
views to be found in all America, covering the Niagara Penin- 
sula, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. Upon the spot where 
General Brock fell is a cenotaph suitably inscribed. 



42 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

At the mouth of the Niagara River, on the Canadian side, 
was Fort George. The extensive earthworks are still discernible. 
The construction of the Fort was commenced in 1796, and it was 
enlarged prior to the War of 1812, and was the military center 
of that region during the war one hundred years ago. Farther 
up the river is Fort Mississaga, consisting of a stone blockhouse 
and high earthworks, which was built by the British in 1814, 
and its guns covered Fort Niagara on the American side of the 
river. 

Still another historic point of interest in that section is Navy 
Hall, which was the residence of Governor Simcoe, the first 
Governor-General of Upper Canada. 

There are many points of historic interest along the American 
shore of the Niagara, and the whole Niagara Frontier is impreg- 
nated with historic lore dating back to the earliest days of Ameri- 
can civilization, but we are concerned now with the events of 
one hundred years ago and the coming anniversary. 

In striking contrast with "Lake Erie's shelving walls of land 
clad with wealth and comfort o'er, with Lake Ontario's pros- 
perous strand decked with city pictures grand," and with the mar- 
vellous development of the Niagara Frontier generally, was the 
condition of western New York during, and at the close of the 
War of 1812. 

Lossing, in his history of the United States, relates that the 
British and Indians pillaged and destroyed the six or eight 
houses that constituted the village of Youngstown, which imme- 
diately adjoins Fort Niagara; that they then marched upon the 
village of Lewiston to the south, and plundered, burned and 
butchered to their hearts' content; that five hundred Indians, 
under General Riall, went from Queenston to Lewiston on hearing 
a gun fired at Fort Niagara announcing its capture. Lossing 
then quotes from a letter written by General Drummond that 
day as follows: 

"A war whoop from five hundred of the most savage Indians 
(which they gave at daylight, on hearing of the success of the 
attack on Fort Niagara) made the enemy (at Lewiston) take to 
their heels, and our troops are in pursuit. We shall not stop 
until we have cleared the whole frontier. The Indians are retali- 
ating the conflagration of Newark. Not a house within my sight 
but is in flames. This is a melancholy but just retaliation." 



THE WAR OF 1812 43 

General Drummond and the Britishers were incensed because 
the Americans had burned some houses in the little village of 
Newark near the mouth of the Niagara River on the Canadian side. 

Regarding the situation that followed, Orsamus Turner, 
the historian of the Holland Purchase which included a large 
part of western New York, wrote : 

"It is impossible now to give the reader such an account 
of the conditions of things in western New York during that 
ill-fated winter (which was 1814) as will enable him to realize 
the alarm, the panic, the aggregate calamity that prevailed. 
On the immediate frontier all was desolate; the enemy holding 
possession of Fort Niagara, detached parties of British and 
Indians came out from it, traversed the frontier where there was 
nothing left to destroy, enlarging the theatre of devastation, and 
spreading alarm among those who had been bold enough to remain 
in the fight. West of the north and south line they would pass 
through the village of LeRoy, more than one-half of the entire 
population had been driven from their homes by the enemy, 
or had left them in fear of extended invasion. The entire back- 
woods neighborhoods were deserted, one hundred log cabins were 
desolate, and the signs and sounds of life were mostly the deserted 
cattle and sheep lowing and bleating, famishing for the want of 
fodder. There were none left to deal out to them." 

On January 8th, 1814, a committee of relief and safety was 
appointed, and this committee issued the following: 

"Niagara County and that part of Genesee which lies west 
of Batavia are completely depopulated. All of the settlements 
in a section of country forty miles square, and which contained 
more than 12,000 souls, are effectually broken up. These facts 
you are undoubtedly acquainted with; but the distress they have 
produced none but an eye witness can thoroughly appreciate. 
Our roads are filled with people, many of whom have been re- 
duced from a state of competency and good prospects to tlie 
last degree of want. So sudden was the blow by which they had 
been crushed, that no provision could be made to elude or to 
meet it. The fugitives from Niagara County, especially, were 
dispersed under circumstances of so much terror, that in some 
cases mothers find themselves with strange children, and children 
are seen accompanied by such as had no other sympathies with 
them than those of common suffering." 



44 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

For specific instances, Historian Lossing quotes as follows, 
from a letter written in LeRoy January 6tli, 1814: 

"Witnesses testified to the following facts: The Indians 
massacred and burned Mrs. Lovejoy in Buffalo; massacred two 
large families at Black Rock, namely, Mr. Luft'er's and Mr. 
Lecort's; murdered Mr. Gardner; put all of the sick to death 
at Youngstown, and killed, scalped, and mangled sixty at Fort 
Niagara after it was given up. Many dead bodies are yet lying 
unburied at Buffalo, mangled and scalped. Colonel Marvin 
counted thirty-three this morning. I met between Cayuga and 
this place upward of one hundred families in wagons, sleds, and 
sleighs, many of them with nothing but what they had on their 
backs; nor could they find places to stay at." 

Look upon the above picture one hundred years ago, of the 
Niagara Frontier devastated. 

Then look upon the picture of the Niagara Frontier today 
budding and blossoming as a rose, and teeming with industrial 
activity. 

At the head of the Niagara River and at the foot of Lake 
Erie is the great city of Buffalo, with about half a million of 
people, exhibiting the activities of modern life, a great lake 
commerce, a great canal commerce, a great manufacturing and 
mercantile business. 

Farther down the river are two more cities, Tonawanda and 
North Tonawanda, and there is the second largest lumber market 
in the world at the intersection of lake and canal navigation, 
together with much manufacturing. Then the two cities of 
Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario, the one 
with forty-two thousand and the other with ten thousand people. 
Here is the seat of the first and greatest electrical power devel- 
opment in the world, the aggregate quantity now developed being 
.600,000 horse power, with more to follow. Niagara Falls, New 
York, is the chemical and abrasive manufacturing center of the 
United States. At least $40,000,000 worth of fifty kinds of manu- 
factured goods is produced there annually. Steam railroad 
tracks are everywhere. Niagara power operates 374 miles of 
electric railroad tracks on the Niagara Frontier, and runs the 
street cars in Oswego, two hundred miles away. In its thirty-six 
miles of length, the Niagara River is spanned with five bridges, 
all wonders of bridge construction, one of the steel arches at 




GENERAL PETER B. POHTEll 




COLONEL PETER A. PORTER 



THE WAR OF 1812 46 

Niagara Falls having the largest span in the world, 1,248 feet. 
Niagara County is one of the chief fruit-growing regions of the 
world, apples, peaches, pears and plums predominating. There 
are over one million apple trees in Niagara County. No stronger 
contrast is possible than is presented by this modern garden of 
Eden, as compared to the desolation of the same territory one 
hundred years ago. 

Peter A. Porter has presented to the Niagara Frontier His- 
torical Society a most interesting document bearing on the early 
history of the Niagara Frontier. It is worded as follows: 

"Congress of the United States, 
*Tn the House of Representatives, 

"Wednesday, the 14th of June, 1809. 
^'Resolved, That the Committee of Commerce and Manufac- 
tures be instructed to enquire into the expediency of removing 
the oflfices of Collector of the Customs from Fort Niagara to 
Lewiston, in the District of Niagara; and from BufiFaloe Creek 
to Black Rock in the District of Buff aloe; and that they report 
by bill or otherwise. 

" — Extract from the Journal. 
"Patrick Magruder, Clerk" 

On the back it is endorsed. 

Ports of Entry 

Not referred to this Committee. 
Nov. 1809 
Mr. Porter 

Mr. Newton 
Commerce & Manufactures. 

These notations show that it was evidently sent by mistake 
to some other committee; by whom it was sent to the proper 
one. 

The story of the early customs houses on the Niagara Frontier 
for the removal of whose location to more convenient points 
this resolution was the first move — is interesting local history. 



46 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

The first United States custom house on the Niagara River 
was naturally located at Fort Niagara; which, when Britain 
finally evacuated it, in 1796, was the only occupied spot thereon. 
And the Collector was probably a United States army officer. 

The customs district of Buffalo was not formed until years 
later. The first collector of customs there was Erastus Granger, 
who also held the office of postmaster, and was also the United 
States Indian Agent. 

In 1805, the State of New York opened the Mile Strip for 
purchase and settlement. At that sale, the newly-formed firm 
of Porter, Barton & Company bought a number of lots; and soon 
after, they secured, when the State publicly offered to award 
it to the responsible bidder, who would keep the roadbed in 
good shape, accept the schedule of tolls which the State should 
decide on, furnish transportation, and build warehouses, for the 
shortest term of years — the exclusive lease of the portage between 
Lewiston and Schlosser, for a term of fourteen years. 

The village of Lewiston had been plotted by the State; and 
as that was the lower end of the portage, the vessels which Porter, 
Barton & Company soon had on Lake Ontario all docked there. 
But all the entry and clearance papers, etc., had to be procured 
at Fort Niagara; that necessitated extra stops and needless 
delays. 

At Buffalo, Erastus Granger kept his office, for all three of 
the federal positions he held, well down town; but at that time 
no vessel ever entered nor cleared from Buffalo Creek; it was 
unnavigable, owing to the sand bar at its mouth. 

All the navigation at the source of the river, on the Ignited 
States side, docked at and started from the Black Rock, which 
was located a little south of the bend of Niagara Street in Buffalo. 
Therefore all entry papers had to be taken to, and all clearance 
papers had to be gotten from the Collector's office some two 
miles away, in Buffalo. 

In 1808, Peter B. Porter, then a resident of Black Rock, was 
elected Member of Congress; his district embracing all of western 
New York. 

And this resolution was introduced by him. 

He and Erastus Granger belonged to different political parties; 
Granger having been sent out here, primarily to help control 
the politics. 



THE WAR OF 181« 47 

There was no opposition to the removal of the custom house 
from Fort Niagara to Lewiston. All the people of that section 
favored it, because it would facilitate commerce and would 
build up the village of Lewiston. 

But at Buffalo, Granger bitterly opposed the removal of 
the oflBce from Buffalo to Black Rock. Primarily he felt it 
would lessen his political influence. Personally, he did not want 
to have the custom house and the postoffice in separate buildings; 
he specially did not want them two miles apart, for that would 
necessitate much extra travel for him. 

The Black Rockers pointed out that it was farther from 
Granger's home (which was out near Forest Lawn) to the Black 
Rock, than it was to the post-office; but that did not meet 
Granger's complaint about the extra travel for him, if the custom 
office should be at the Black Rock. 

And when the Black Rockers naively suggested that he need 
not take those extra journeys, and that a sure way to prevent 
his having that trouble was for him to resign either the post- 
office or the collectorship, he denounced the suggestion bitterly, 
as an infraction of his personal rights. 

Granger's chief and most harped-on argument, however, 
was that Porter was using his position as Member of Congress 
to further the interests of his firm, in seeking to change both 
locations. 

Porter frankly admitted that in both cases the change would 
result in great conveniences to his firm, but said that, so far as 
Buffalo was concerned, a change there would also accommodate 
better every person who had customs business, except Granger 
himself. 

He also pointed out that at Buffalo (and the same was true 
as to Lewiston) practically all of the customs business was done 
by the vessels of his firm, or by vessels in which they had finan- 
cial or exchange of business relations. 

Porter was a close personal friend and a supporter of Presi- 
dent Madison. He readily agreed to a compromise, namely that 
the Collector's office for the Buffalo district should be located 
at Black Rock for half of the year and at Buffalo for the other 
half. The committee reported by a bill, and an Act of Congress 
was passed, leaving the President to make the terms of the 
division. And Madison decided that from fall to spring it should 



48 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

be located at Buffalo. Granger and his political friends were 
bitterly disappointed, but all vessel men were entirely satisfied. 
Granger retained both offices, collector and postmaster, and 
was not required to go down to Black Rock during the win- 
ter months. 

The Customs District of Niagara was created by Act of 
Congress in 1799, and included all the shores and waters of Lake 
Ontario and Lake Erie and the Niagara River lying within the 
State of New York west of the Genesee River, with the port of 
entry at Fort Niagara. The District of Buffalo Creek on the 
west and the District of Genesee on the east were set off from the 
District of Niagara in 1805. The port of entry was removed 
from Fort Niagara to Lewiston in 1811, and from Lewiston to 
Suspension Bridge in 1863. The name of the port was changed to 
that of Niagara Falls, following the erection of the city of 
Niagara Falls, in 1892. The Niagara Falls District extended 
from the east bank of the Oak Orchard Creek to the channel 
of the Tonawanda Creek. The present customs collection 
district begins at the old boundary of the Niagara District and 
Oak Orchard Creek, in Orleans County, and extends up Lake 
Ontario to include Olcott Beach, to the Niagara River and the 
whole length of the Niagara River, the sub-ports being Youngs- 
town, Lewiston, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, Tonawanda, 
and up Lake Erie to Dunkirk in Chautauqua County, with the 
main office in Buffalo. This port also sends officers to Toronto, 
Midland, Collingwood, and Muskoka, Ontario. 

The Lewiston Academy was incorporated April 17th, 1828. 
It was one of the leading educational institutions of this section 
for some years, others being the Wilson Collegiate Institute and 
the Yates Academy in Orleans County. Many men afterwards 
prominent in public affairs were educated there. At the time that 
the academy was established, the ferry across the Niagara River 
at Lewiston was the gateway between the East and the West, 
and the proceeds of this ferry were appropriated bj^ an Act of the 
Legislature in 1826 for the establishment and maintenance of the 
school. At the time of the Navy Island War the pupils from 
Canada were withdrawn and the academy had a fitful existence 
after that and the picturesque building has been in disuse for 
many years. 

Niagara County enjoys nation-wide and world-wide distinc- 




HON. I'KTER A. 1'()KII:K 



THE WAR OF 1812 49 

tion in many respects, and not the least of these is in respect 
to its highways. The first roads, of course, were Indian trails, 
and the principal trail of the Iroquois nation was from the Hudson 
to the Niagara River. The Iroquois Trail emerged from the 
Tonawanda Swamp southeast of Royalton Center, coming out 
on the Lockport and Batavia Road at Millard's Brook and thence 
upon Chestnut Ridge to Cold Springs. It struck the Ridge at 
Warren's Corners and continued to Lewiston, which was the 
gateway to the West across the Niagara River. There was 
another route called the Ontario Trail coming from Oswego and 
Irondequoit Bay along the Ridge Road to the west line of 
Hartland, where it turned southwest to Cold Springs. On 
these trails barbarism went forth to war and the chase and 
civilization marched in. 

One of the most famous of our highways was the Portage 
Road, or carrying place of the Niagara, which ran from the 
top of the Lewiston escarpment to Schlosser Dock on the upper 
Niagara River and was two and one-half to three leagues long. 
It was built, of course, to avoid the cataracts of the Niagara, 
and it was related in the early days that the beautiful oak forest 
through which it ran was suflSciently open to permit a person 
to see six hundred paces. In 1718 the portage was called a fine 
highway. What would the people who saw it then think of the 
paved highway running solid from Buffalo to the mouth of 
Niagara River now.? At that time rude carts passed over the 
portage two or three times a year. Now people riding in an auto- 
mobile between the Buffalo city line and the Niagara Falls 
city line frequently count four hundred or five hundred auto- 
mobiles going in the opposite direction within an hour. The 
first railroad in the United States was the tramway down the 
Lewiston Mountain to the Niagara River at the end of the 
portage. Fort Little Niagara was built at the upper end of the 
portage by the French in 1750 to guard the road, and later the 
portage was guarded by stockades built at different points 
between the two landings. Most of the goods were transported 
over the portage on the backs of Indians. 

The other most famous highway in Niagara County is the 
Ridge Road. In 1810 the State Legislature appointed General 
Peter B. Porter of Niagara Falls, DeWitt Clinton, Gouveneur 
Morris, and Steven Van Rensselaer as a committee to investi- 



50 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

gate proposed routes for water eomiiiunication between the 
Hudson River and the Great Lakes. They came west of the 
Falls of the Genesee and then over the Ridge Road to Lewiston. 
At that time DeWitt Clinton said, "From the Genesee near Roch- 
ester to Lewiston on the Niagara there is a remarkable ridge or 
elevation of land running almost the whole distance, which is 
seventy-eight miles, and in a direction from east to west. Its 
general altitude above the neighboring land is thirty feet, and its 
width varies considerably; in some places it is not more than 
forty rods. This strip of land appears as if intended by Nature 
for the purpose of an easy communication. It is, in fact, a stu- 
pendous natural turnpike, descending gradually on each side 
and covered with gravel, and but little labor is requisite to make 
it the best road in the United States." 

Judge Augustus Porter first came to Niagara Falls in 1795, 
learned of the ridge from the Indians, and had the line of a 
road traced along it in 1798. Along the eastern portion of Niagara 
County the ridge was discovered in 1805. In 1808 the Ridge 
Road was laid out by General Rhea and others. In 1814 a State 
appropriation of $5,000 was expended on parts of the Ridge 
Road west of Rochester, and it was laid out under State authority 
in 1815. At the time of laying out the Ridge Road there was 
no other road entering Niagara County from the East. By the 
ridge most of the Niagara pioneers entered the county. There 
was a stage route established on the Ridge Road from Canan- 
daigua to Lewiston in 1816 over which tourists were brought 
to Niagara Falls, and it continued until the advent of railroads 
in 1850. Along the vicinity of the Ridge Road is the famous 
Niagara limestone which forms the mountain ridge and which 
at Niagara Falls is 164 feet thick and makes possible the great 
cataracts by protecting the shale from rapid erosion. The other 
two groups of stone in this vicinity are the Medina and Clinton 
stone. The Ridge Road is the only highway in the county six 
rods wide. 

Settlements began on the ridge west of Warren's Corners 
before the Holland Company cut out the old trail from Batavia 
into a passable road; and the ridge was used for transportation 
with teams between Warren's Corners and Lewiston sooner than 
in any other part. East of this section there was nothing that 
could be called a road before 1803. As late as 1809 the ridge 



THE WAR OF 1812 51 

near the county line was encumbered with logs and brush. After 
other parts of the ridge had been made passable, the swamp 
which extended four miles between Warren's Corners and 
Wright's Corners was an obstacle. This is now the town line 
between Lockport and Newfane, and a part of State Highway 
No. 30. In the spring of 1813 General Dearborne, representing 
the United States, contracted with Isaac B. Taylor to build for 
$2,900 a log causeway through the low ground. The work 
was done that season, but was earlj'^ and often undone. The 
logs were frequently afloat in the spring and autumn and annual 
repairs were made by town appropriations and subscriptions, 
by stage proprietors until 1823, when the franchise for a turnpike 
was granted to David Maxwell, who subsequently sold it to the 
town of Newfane. The gravel with which the Ridge Road is 
covered was deposited there by the water, and the stones every- 
where indicate by their shape the abrasion and agitation pro- 
duced by that element. Geologists have generally concluded 
that this wonderful ridge was a mammoth bar on the bed of 
Lake Ontario when the lake rolled over the country south to the 
brow of the so-called mountain ridge. 

Now the Ridge Road is paved its entire length through 
Niagara County with the exception of two or three miles in the 
town of Lewiston, and that parcel of road will be paved in the 
near future. It will soon be possible to travel in automobile the 
entire distance from Rochester to the Niagara River upon a 
paved road running over the old stage route. If DeWitt Clinton 
and his associates could see this magnificent boulevard now they 
would conclude that the plans of Nature had been fulfilled by 
man in this twentieth century, just about a hundred years after 
the projector of the Erie Canal first viewed that region. 

Now Niagara County has more miles of improved highways 
than any county of its size in the United States. Across it from 
east to west is State Route No. 30, starting at Rouse's Point in 
the extreme northeastern part of the State, and across it from 
north to south is State Route No. 18, which starts at Ripley near 
the Pennsylvania line and runs to Lake Ontario. This great 
work would not now be completed except for the million-dollar 
appropriation passed through the Legislature by Senator Robert 
H. Gittins, of Niagara Falls, and Route 30 would not be on the 
Ridge Road if a strong fight had not been made to emphasize 



52 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

that, as DeWitt Clinton said one hundred and five years ago, 
it is a great natural highway intended by Nature as a means of 
easy communication. In days gone by, I have walked over the 
trail of DeWitt Clinton and General Porter and ridden through 
the sand in lumber wagons and stage coaches. Today we speed 
along the oak-bordered boulevard seeing luxuriant fruit orchards 
on every hand, in automobiles that almost discount the "roaring 
loom of time itself." 



CHAPTER V 



FREE NIAGARA 

Interesting First-Hand Details of the Great Movement to Establish 
the New York State Reservation at Niagara 



FREE NIAGARA was the forerunner of greater industrial 
Niagara. That fact may not stand clearly in the mind 
of every person contemplating the industrial city of 
Niagara Falls today and the marvellous revolution which the 
world's first and greatest electrical power development has 
wrought in many of the activities of life. When the great State 
of New York, at a large expenditure of its treasure, made Niagara 
free to all mankind forever, made possible the contemplation 
of Nature's grandest scene by all of the inhabitants of the earth 
without the exaction of toll, and under the best conditions, it 
builded even wiser than it knew, although there was great 
popular interest in the splendid philanthropic project at the 
time. When the plan had been suggested, it aroused the active, 
sympathetic interest of the best and greatest men and women 
of this and other States and of the Dominion of Canada. Many 
eloquent addresses were made, and hundreds of letters written 
by the leading people of that time, and the noblest sentiments 
were expressed, coming from the brightest intellects of the age. 
From the time when Father Hennepin first viewed the mighty 
cataracts down the vista of the years that witnessed the settle- 
ment and civilization of the American Continent, the greatest 
citizens of every country and every clime, poets and prose writers, 
statesmen and rulers, the most distinguished in every walk of 
life, had paid court at Nature's shrine and given to history and 
to literature their best thoughts about the Falls of Niagara and 

(63) 



54 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

the most spectacular, yet beautiful and potential river, on the 
globe. All of the splendid sentiments accumulated in the years 
gone by were brought to a climax when the movement was 
inaugurated to emancipate Niagara and make it the priceless 
heritage of all human kind as long as the world endures. Then 
came the project of utility, equally important and the two 
admirably balanced, and to well-informed and sensible people, 
non-conflicting. As the Declaration of Independence, written 
by Thomas Jefferson, afterwards one of our great Presidents 
of the United States, and the Proclamation of Emancipation, 
written by Abraham Lincoln, another great President of the 
United States, are the two greatest documents in our history, 
not only because of their literary excellence, but principally 
because of their stupendous interest to humanity, so was the 
project to make Niagara free, of far-reaching import to the world, 
and as time passes its significance will become more impressive. 

All great movements affecting the public require years of 
agitation and education before consummation. So it was with 
the free Niagara project. In fact when the first legislative 
bill was taken to a governor of the State of New York he said 
that there was no use of spending the people's money to make 
Niagara free because just as much water would go over the Falls 
in the then existing conditions. 

Again, all great movements require a leader. Scan the pages 
of American history and you will invariably see that in connection 
with each the name of some one individual stands out above all 
others, although many people may do valuable work in co-opera- 
tion. Again so it was with the free Niagara project. Inseparably 
connected with the State Reservation at Niagara is the name 
of the late Hon. Thomas V. Welch. Not only did Mr. Welch 
lead the movement extending over several years that finally 
resulted in success, but as superintendent for eighteen years, 
up to the time of his death, he cleared the shoreline and vicinity 
of the Falls of the objectionable features and did the construc- 
tive work that has made the State Reserve that fringes the great 
cataracts, one of the most beautiful spots in all America. Refer- 
ring to Mr. Welch and the Niagara Park in a newspaper article 
twenty-one years ago, which was nine years previous to his death, 
the writer said that he was "a gentleman who has had more to 
do with arousing public sentiment previous to its inauguration, 



FREE NIAGARA 55 

and with the care and improvement of it since 1885, than anyotluT 
person. Mr. Welch's name is so closely connected with all 
reservation matters that it will never be eliminated, and his 
name will go down to posterity not only as a splendid Christian 
gentleman and scholar, keen business man, and patriotic Ameri- 
can, but as one of the greatest philanthropists of the age. These 
statements are true, and there is no logical reason why they 
should not be placed in print during the lifetime of Mr. Welch, 
as well as in his obituary." Of course, many prominent people 
both here and elsewhere did effective work in this most laudable 
undertaking, but Mr. Welch's name led all the rest. 

In the final consummation of the free Niagara project, great 
names were involved. The first bill was signed by Governor 
Grover Cleveland, a western New Yorker, who afterwards 
became twice President of the United States. The second bill 
was signed by Governor David B. Hill, who afterwards became 
a United States Senator from the State of New York. The schol- 
arly oration delivered at the dedication of the New York State 
Reservation at Niagara on July 15, 1885, which was the greatest 
single day's event in the history of Niagara Falls, when seventy- 
five thousand people came to see and hear, was delivered by 
James C. Carter of New York, the recognized head of the bar 
of the United States. 

In the year 1869 the necessity of taking some measures to 
preserve the beauty of the natural scenery of the Falls of Niagara 
from destruction was discussed by Frederick E. Church, the ar- 
tist, Frederick Law Olmsted, the Hon. William Dorsheimer, 
once Lieutenant-Governor of the State, Richardson the artist, and 
many others, but no action was taken until several years after- 
wards, when, at the suggestion of Mr. Church, William H. 
Hurlburt communicated with the Earl of Duff erin, then Governor- 
General of Canada, in relation to the establishment of an inter- 
national park on both sides of the river. 

During a speech delivered before the Ontario Society of 
Artists in Toronto September 26, 1878, Lord Dufferin made the 
following remarks with reference to the project: 

"And now, gentlemen, before I sit down there is another 
topic to which I would for a moment refer. I am about to con- 
fide to you a mission which I think sufficiently connected with 
your prosperity to justify me in asking your assistance. In your 



56 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

neighborhood there exists, as you are aware, one of the most 
wondrous, beautiful and stupendous scenes which the forces of 
Nature have ever constructed. Indeed, so majestic is the subject 
that though many skillful hands have endeavored to transfer 
it to canvas, few have succeeded in adequately depicting its awe- 
inspiring characteristics. I allude, of course, to the Falls of 
Niagara. But I am sure everyone will agree with me in thinking 
that the pleasure he may have derived from his pilgrimage to 
so famous a spot, whether as an artist or a simple tourist has been 
miserably marred and defeated by the inconvenience and annoy- 
ance he has experienced at the hands of the various squatting 
interests that have taken possession of every point of vantage 
at the Falls; who tax the pockets and irritate the nerves of the 
visitor, and by whom, just at the moment when he is about to 
give up his whole being to the contemplation of the scene before 
him, as he is about to feel the inspiration of the natural beauties 
around him, his imagination and his poetic faculties are suddenly 
shocked and disorganized by a demand for ten cents. [Loud 
laughter.] Some weeks ago I had the good fortune to meet His 
Excellency, the Governor of the State of New York, and I then 
suggested to him an idea which has been long present in my 
mind, that the governments of New York and Ontario, Canada, 
should combine to acquire whatever rights may have been 
established against the public, and to form around the Falls a 
small public international park ['Hear, hear'] not, indeed, deco- 
rated or in any way sophisticated by the penny-out-of-the-land- 
scape gardener, but carefully preserved in the picturesque condi- 
tion in which it was originally laid out by the hand of Nature.'* 

William H. Hurlburt, who communicated with Lord Dufferin, 
was then editor of the New York World. 

The movement for the redemption of Niagara may be said 
to have had its origin in suggestions contained in a message from 
Governor Lucius Robinson sent to the Legislature of this State 
January 9, 1879. Governor Robinson then said in part: 

"The civil jurisdiction over the Falls of Niagara, as well as 
the shores and waters of Niagara River, is divided between the 
State and the Province of Ontario, Canada. But, in one sense, 
the sublime exhibition of natural power there witnessed is the 
property of the whole world. It is visited by tourists from all 
quarters of the globe, and it would seem to be incumbent upon 




( 





FREE NIAGARA 57 

both governments to protect such travelers from improper annoy- 
ance on either side. It is, however, well known, and a matter 
of universal complaint, that the most favorable points of obser- 
vation around the Falls are appropriated for purposes of private 
profit, while the shores swarm with sharpers, hucksters, and 
peddlers, who perpetually harass all visitors. In the course of 
the last summer in a casual meeting with Lord Dufferin, then 
Governor-General of Canada, he suggested the propriety of some 
steps on the part of the State of New York and the Province of 
Ontario to remedy the abuses which he had seen and deeply 
regretted. The proper course, if such a plan were deemed 
advisable, would undoubtedly be the appointment of commissions 
by both the governments, to confer together as to the details. 
Should such a commission be appointed by the authorities of 
Ontario, I recommend that you provide for the appointment of a 
similar one to consider the subject. There can be no doubt that 
many persons abstain from visiting the Falls in consequence 
of the annoyances referred to, nor can there be any reasonable 
doubt that the removal of these objections would largely increase 
the number of visitors annually." 

By a joint resolution of the Legislature, the Commissioners 
of the State Survey were asked to "inquire, consider and report 
what, if any, measures it may be expedient for the State to adopt 
for carrying out the suggestions contained in the annual message 
of the Governor with respect to Niagara Falls." 

James F. Gardner, director of the State Survey, and Fred- 
erick Law Olmsted performed this work. On March 22, 1880, 
a special report was submitted to the Legislature by ex-Governor 
Horatio Seymour, president of the board. In this report were 
contained the following pertinent points: 

"That the scenery of Niagara Falls has been greatly injured; 
that the process of injury is continuous and accelerating; and 
that if not arrested, it must in time be utterly destructive of its 
value. There is no American soil from which the Falls can be 
contemplated, except at the pleasure of a private owner, and 
under such conditions as he may choose to impose; none upon 
which the most outrageous caprices of taste may not be indulged, 
or the most offensive interpolations forced upon the landscape." 

They recommended the extinguishment of the private title 
in so much land as should be regarded as absolutely necessary 



58 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

for the purpose, and that the state should, by purchase, acquire 
a title to such land, and hold it in trust for her people forever. 

During the winter of 1881, Major James Low, afterwards 
collector of the port of Niagara Falls, then member of Assembly 
for the second district of Niagara County, introduced in the 
Assembly a bill providing for a survey. Alonzo B. Cornell was 
then governor and was unfriendly to the bill. Two years later, 
when Mr. Welch was laboring with Governor Hill to get his signa- 
ture to the bill which had then been passed, Cornell said to Mr. 
Welch: "It is a good thing for you that I am not now governor; 
I would veto your bill." When asked if he did not think that the 
scenery of Niagara Falls should be preserved and that the world 
should view them without expense he replied: "Why shouldn't 
the people pay for the privilege; isn't it a luxury.?" Col. Timothy 
E. Ellsworth of Lockport was then in the State Senate, and being 
the attorney for the Porter and Townsend estates, which were 
the largest owners of land to be taken by the State, held a neutral 
position in regard to the bill, and it was considered that his atti- 
tude would be determined by the nature of the bill and how it 
effected these large interests. Accordingly, the Low bill was 
not passed. 

In the meantime, the Niagara Falls Association, whose object 
was "to preserve the scenery of the Falls of Niagara," was organ- 
ized. This organization had its birth at a meeting of prominent 
men held at the residence of Howard Potter in New York City 
on December 6, 1882. 

Grover Cleveland had just been elected governor, and being 
from western New York, it was known that he was friendly to 
Niagara Falls, and it was believed to be an opportune time to 
push the project. It was, therefore, determined to appeal to the 
people of the State, and a committee was appointed consisting 
of J. Hampton Robb, Buchanan Winthrop, James F. Gardner, 
J. T. Rensselaer, and Francis H. Weeks, to formulate a report 
to be made at a public meeting which was held in Municipal 
Hall, Madison Avenue, New York, January 11, 1883. At this 
meeting D. Willis James presided, and the committee reported 
in favor of organizing the Niagara Falls Association. Officers 
were elected as follows: President, Howard Potter; vice-presi- 
dents, Daniel Huntington, George William Curtis and Cornelius 
Vanderbilt; secretary, Robert Lenox Belknap; treasurer, Charles 



FREE NIAGARA 59 

Lanier; corresponding secretary, the Rev. J. B. Harrison. The 
committee previously named was made the executive committee. 
Mr. Harrison, whose residence was Franklin Falls, N. H., was 
employed to canvass the State and write articles in the interest 
of the project. An address written by George William Curtis 
was also sent out. 

The Executive Committee of the Association drew a bill which 
was introduced into the Assembly March 2, 1883. Hon. Thomas 
V. Welch then represented the second district of Niagara County, 
and had been laboring indefatigably for the project, but it was 
considered by Mr. Welch, Senator Ellsworth, and the other 
friends of the measure, good policy to have some New York mem- 
ber introduce the bill, and accordingly Mr. Welch, upon receipt 
of the document from J. Hampton Robb, which the Executive 
Committee had drafted, returned it to the latter with the sugges- 
tion that Hon. Jacob F. Miller of New York be requested to 
introduce it. The bill went to the Assembly March 2, 1882, and 
several hearings were had upon it before the Committee on Ways 
and Means, at which the Right Rev. Bishop Doane, Messrs. 
Potter, Dorsheimer, Robb, and others spoke. It finally passed 
the Assembly with only one or two votes to spare, and then went 
to the Senate. Here Senator Ellsworth desired some alterations 
made, but it was finally passed and became a law by the signature 
of Governor Cleveland, April 30, 1883. Among those who used 
their influence in favor of the measure were John Jay, George 
William Curtis, Hugh McLaughlin, Hubert O. Thompson, 
President Chester A. Arthur, United States Senators Elbridge 
G. Lapham and Warner Miller, ex-Senator Roscoe Conkling, 
John G. Whittier, Oliver W^endell Holmes, college presidents, 
Andrew D. White, Mark Hopkins and Judge Noah Porter. 

The Act provided for the appointment by the Governor of 
five commissioners to hold office for five years without compen- 
sation, and Governor Cleveland named as such Hon. William 
Dorsheimer, Hon. Andrew H. Green and Hon. J. Hampton 
Robb of New York, Hon. Sherman S. Rogers of Buffalo, and 
Martin B. Anderson, LL.D., Rochester. Mr. Green continued 
as commissioner up to the time of his death a few years ago. 
On the 29th of May, in Albany, the commission organized by the 
election of Martin B. Anderson, as president, and J. Hampton 
Robb as secretary and treasurer. 



60 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

On February 17, 1885, the commissioners made a report to 
the Legislature setting forth their recommendations and reciting 
what they had done. After stating at some length the conditions 
then existing there, they reported that they had met at Niagara 
Falls to view the lands on June 9, 1883, and after a detailed ex- 
amination found it "desirable to select and locate as proper and 
necessary to be reserved for the purpose of preserving the scenery 
of the Falls of Niagara and restoring the said scenery to its natural 
conditions, the following lands: Goat Island, Bath Island, Three 
Sister Islands, Bird Island, Luna Island, Chapin Island, and the 
small islands adjacent to said islands in the Niagara River and 
the bed of said river between said islands and the main land for 
the State of New York, and also the bed of said river between 
Goat Island and the Canadian boundary; also a strip of land 
beginning near Port Day, running along the shore of said river, 
to and including Prospect Park and the cliff and the debris slope, 
and including at the east end of said strip sufficient land not 
exceeding one acre, for purposes convenient to said reservation, 
and also including all lands at the foot of said Falls." They then 
requested the State engineer and surveyor to make a map of the 
lands located. Thomas Evershed, then division engineer of the 
western division, afterwards designer of the great tunnel here, 
made a map and presented it to the commissioners, September 
27th, 1883. On December 8th the map was approved. 

This done, the commissioners applied to the court for the 
appointment of three appraisers to appraise the lands they had 
selected. The court named Luther R. Marsh of New York, 
Matthew Hale of Albany and Pascal P. Pratt of Buffalo as 
appraisers. Messrs. Allen, Movius and Wilcox of Buffalo were 
retained as attorneys. 

Throughout the month of July the appraisers held sessions 
continuously to take testimony regarding the property. The 
claims of the property owners amounted to about $4,000,000, 
but the final aggregate award was $1,433,429.50. As is well 
known, the various members of the Porter family in its several 
branches, consisting of Hon. Peter A. Porter, George M. Porter, 
Jane A. Porter, A. H. Porter, heirs of A. Porter, V. M. Porter, 
A. A. Porter, J. M. Porter, A. S. Porter, heirs of P. B. Porter, 
and the Townsend family, consisting of E. J. and J. S. Townsend 
and others, were the owners of the largest proportion of the 



FREE NIAGARA 61 

property taken. The Prospect Park Company was allowed 
$325,000. Other large property owners were the Niagara Falls 
Paper Company, $156,666; Whitney, Jerauld & Company, 
$110,600; Thomas Tugby, $60,200; R. F. Hill, $81,600. 

Then followed a long siege of hard work to get the Legislature 
to make provisions for the payment of the $1,433,429.50 awards 
and take other steps to establish the reservation. In the autumn 
of 1884 Hon. Walter P. Home, later postmaster, police justice, 
and city clerk, had been elected member of Assembly from this 
district and Senator Ellsworth re-elected. At the beginning of 
the session of the Legislature of 1884-5, the chances were re- 
garded as bright for securing the appropriation. The necessary 
bill had been drawn up, and Messrs. Welch and Robb took it 
to Albany. At that time Thomas E. Benedict, later public 
printer of the LTnited States, was deputy comptroller of this state. 
Mr. Benedict had opposed the reservation project strenuously 
from the start and he said to Messrs. Welch and Robb that he 
was sorry to see two such good fellows in Albany on such an 
errand, and that the State would never appropriate that amount 
of money for the purpose. Mr. Benedict said, however, that 
Isaac H. Maynard, then deputy attorney-general of the State, 
had outlined to him a plan that would be more likely to succeed. 
This plan was the one that was finally adopted. It was that the 
State pay $433,429.50 out of the treasury and issue bonds for 
the other one million dollars distributed over ten years, payable 
$100,000 per annum. These bonds were all paid at the end of 
ten years. Accordingly, Mr. Maynard agreed to draft a bill 
embodying these provisions. Realizing that it would require 
great effort to pass a bill, and as Howard Potter, president of the 
Niagara Falls Association, was in Europe, Charles S. Fairchild, 
then chairman of the executive committee, sent for Mr. W^elch 
to come to New York, and a conference was held there. Soon after, 
Mr. Fairchild was appointed assistant secretary of the treasury 
under the Cleveland National Administration, and he asked 
Mr. Welch to come to New York and take charge of the move- 
ment to pass the bill, with headquarters in Mr. Robb's ofiBce in 
William Street. 

In the meantime protests against the bill had been going from 
the rural districts to the Legislature. Mr. Welch thought the 
matter over, and finally called a meeting of the citizens of Niagara 

*5 



62 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Falls, which resulted in a decision to conduct the work at the 
Falls instead of New York. Petitions were prepared, and letters 
written to all of the Senators and Assemblymen requesting them 
to furnish lists of representative men in their districts, irrespec- 
tive of party. This resulted in the receipt of between four and 
five thousand names, and to those were mailed the petitions, 
with the request to get signatures and then forward direct to 
their respective Senators and Assemblymen and notify the 
secretary of the Niagara Falls Association in New York that 
they had been sent. The result of this effective work was that 
some mornings in the Legislature it took an hour or more to 
read the headings of these petitions that were coming in, and the 
sentiment in the Legislature began rapidly to change in favor 
of the measure. A circular letter was then prepared setting forth 
the well-known arguments, and addressed to about eight thousand 
representative men, requesting them to write to their Senators 
and Assemblymen, and inclosing blanks which they were to fill 
out and send to the secretary, advising that they had done so. 
This brought large response, and Mr. Welch preserved a pile of 
letters two feet thick of this character, which were bound, and 
which Mrs. Welch has presented to the Niagara Frontier Historical 
Society. 

Mr. Welch delivered two eloquent speeches at Albany, one 
in favor of each of the bills. The last one before the joint com- 
mittee of the Senate and Assembly when the award bill was 
under consideration February 26, 1885, was so eloquent, yet 
brief, that it is herewith subjoined: 

*'Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Joint Committee of the 
Senate and Assembly: 

"Although a resident of the village of Niagara Falls, I would 
not appear before you today were it not for the fact that during 
the past three years, as a member of the Assembly, I have been 
deeply interested in the important matter before you for con- 
sideration. In 1883, with Senator Robb, who has just addressed 
you, before introducing the preliminary bill providing for the 
appointment of a commission for the selection of lands for a 
State Reservation at Niagara, I waited upon Governor Cleveland 
to ascertain if he would be willing to appoint such commission, 
as we were of the opinion that such appointment would be more 



FREE NIAGARA $S 

desirable than to name the commissioners in the bill. Governor 
Cleveland said that while he did not seek the responsibility of 
naming the commissioners, yet if the Legislature imposed that 
duty upon him, he would discharge it to the best of his ability, 
and he added in relation to the objects sought to be accom- 
plished, if it is to be done, it should be done quickly, as the State 
can now secure the necessary lands at less expense than at any 
time in the future. Upon the passage of the bill. Governor 
Cleveland promptly gave it his approval, and appointed as mem- 
bers of the commission, gentlemen of such standing and reputa- 
tion in the State as to at once inspire public confidence in the 
enterprise. In 1884 Governor Cleveland signed a bill extending 
the time allowed for the appraisement of the lands. He called 
attention to the subject in his message, and he has in every 
way encouraged the friends of this movement. In selecting 
lands in accordance with the provisions of the law of 1883, the 
commissioners decided to appropriate Goat Island and the 
adjacent islands. Prospect Park and a narrow border of land 
along the river, thus securing all that is necessary to preserve 
the natural beauty of the Falls of Niagara and the great rapids 
above them from destruction, and open the enjoyment of them 
freely to the public for all time to come. The appraisers 
appointed to ascertain the value of the lands were of the same 
high character as the commissioners, and discharged their 
important and difficult duty with a jealous care for the interest 
of the State and a desire to do exact justice to all concerned. 
The report of the appraisers was promptly confirmed by the 
court, and the bill before you for consideration today provides 
for the payment of several awards made by them. Thus far 
there never has been a public enterprise conducted more strictly 
upon honor, than that for which we now ask for your approval. 
I know something of the difficulties under which you labor, 
having, during the last two years, served with some members 
I see before me upon the Ways and Means Committee of the 
Assembly. The constantly increasing demands of the various 
departments of the State give rise to anxiety, and at times it is 
very difficult for public officers to decide which course is best to 
pursue. I do not think that any of my associates will say that 
I have lavished extravagances in public outlay, and therefore 
I now ask that only such weight be given to my words as my 



64 NL\GARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

actions, when I occupied the place where you now are will justify. 
I think you will agree with me that there are some things the 
worth of which to humanity cannot be reckoned in gold. The 
Falls of Niagara is certainly one of these. Such seems to be 
the sentiment of the pulpit, the press, the universities, the schools, 
and the intelligent culture and patriotism of the people of our 
State. As the object of this movement has been agitated, it 
has steadily grown in public favor. Many who voted against 
the preliminary bill in 1883 now write to me saying that they 
regret their former action and wish they now had the oppor- 
tunity of voting in favor of the bill. The chairman of the State 
Committee of each of the great political parties is earnestly in 
favor of it. I have received letters from ex-Speakers Alvord, 
Littlejohn, Sharon, Paterson and Sheard, expressing the desire 
to be of service in advancing the measure, and also from such 
well-known public men as Erastus Brooks, to whose eloquent 
words you have just listened, and who has been among the 
earnest advocates of this object from the outset. Poucher of 
Oswego, Thompson of Jefferson, Clinton of Erie, whose name 
is associated with greatness of our State, Boynton of Essex, 
chairman of the late Republican State Convention, whose repu- 
tation in the Assembly was that of a careful, intelligent legis- 
lator and a watchful economist, who says that after all, 'A legis- 
lator cannot do better than administer to the happiness and 
elevation of the people,' as is contemplated by this measure. 

''Having lived at Niagara Falls as long as I can remember, 
I know of the humiliations and annoyances to which visitors 
are subjected, and which the passage of this bill will largely 
remedy. Niagara, of all places, should be the spot to which the 
professional, or business man, or the farmer or mechanic, could 
go for a day of perfect rest and enjoyment, in contemplating 
one of the most inspiring objects in Nature. Instead of that it 
is to many, owing to the surroundings, a place of absolute tor- 
ment, every available spot for viewing the Falls is inclosed for 
private profit, and a deep-rooted system of abuses which the 
local authorities seem powerless to remedy has grown out of this 
state of affairs. The passage of this bill will, in time, remove 
these difficulties by bringing the power of the State to bear 
directly upon them, thereby restoring Niagara to its rightful 
place, as the most delightful resort in the world. 



FREE NIAGARA 65 

"I have noticed in attendance at this hearing today a large 
number of women. Such, I believe, has been the case in every 
instance when this bill has been considered in committee. Many 
members told me personally that their wives earnestly appealed 
to them to vote for this bill. I can well understand that the 
nature of women and their love of everything beautiful arouses 
within a desire for the preservation of the Falls of Niagara. I 
have seen thousands of women looking upon Niagara for the first 
time, and always with exclamation and every evidence of extreme 
delight. Every woman in our land seems to cherish a wish to 
behold the Falls of Niagara, and I hope that every member of 
your committee will bear in mind that they are represented here 
only by you and that to you it is implicitly confided to speak and 
vote and legislate for their happiness and welfare, I believe 
that you will be true to this most tender trust. 

"A duty is also owing to children in this matter. They will 
inherit this possession and they will be grateful that we have 
not allowed the beauty of the Falls of Niagara to be destroyed 
by encroachments like those at the Falls of the Genesee. There 
exists a great danger of such disfigurement. I am informed that 
a larger sum has been offered by an eastern manufacturing com- 
pany for Prospect Park than that awarded by the State appraisers, 
and the strip of land along the rapids has been repeatedly sur- 
veyed, with the view of making a railroad terminus. As a great 
water power is provided already by means of a hydraulic canal, 
and abundant other lands for railroad purposes can be obtained, 
everyone who wishes to see the beauty of the Falls at Niagara 
preserved should protest against the use of the surroundings 
of Niagara for such purposes, and if necessary, ask the power of 
the State to intervene and prevent. 

"In answer to the chairman, I wish to say that in my opinion, 
the lands covered by the awards provided for in this bill are all 
that are necessary or ever will be necessary to preserve the 
scenery of the Falls of Niagara, and that the State will not be 
called upon at any future time to purchase additional lands for 
the purpose. The lands to be taken will make a beautiful and 
complete framework for the Falls and Rapids on the American 
side, and the Ontario Parliament now has under consideration 
a bill providing for a similar reservation on the Canadian shore. 
Neither will large annual appropriations of money be demanded. 



66 NIAGARA— QIEEX OF WONDERS 

Expensive artificial structures are not desired; the object is to 
remove them and to restore the banks of the river to their natural 
condition. Any member of the committee who has visited the 
great ^Yhi^lpool at Niagara, and stood far down at the water's 
eiige where every hiuiuin habitation is shut out from view and 
nothing is seen but the rushing and whirUng waters, the high 
woodeil banks, and the bUie dome of the sky. can reaHze what 
is hoped for in that immediate vicinity of the Falls now disfigured 
by unsightly structures. Campbell's lines on another subjtx't 
beautifully express our ideal of the scenery of Niagara restored 
to a state of nature: 

*For man's neglect I love thee more 

That art nor avarice intrude. 
To tame thy torrent's thunder-shock 
Nor prune the vintage of the rock 

Magnificently rude." 

"I need not tell the members of this committee how deeplj 
in earnest I am in this matter and how much I wish that I could 
impress my views upon them in a manner worthy of the object 
and the occasion. The success of this measure has been one of 
the cherished objects of my life, and if it becomes a law. I shall 
be proud of my connection with it as long as I live. 

"I believe that in after years every member who votes for 
this bill will share in this feeling. The public opinion in its favor 
is so strong that I feel sure that if this committee reports the bill 
favorably, the legislature will pass it. In that event it has been 
stated that the Governor will veto it. I have no fear of such a 
result. As Governor Hill succeeded Governor Cleveland upoH 
the election of Cleveland to the Presidency, it is but reasonable 
that he should carry out his favorable policy toward this measure. 
Governor Robinson may have been the originator of this measure, 
as he first called the attention of the Legislature to its object. 
He is the political friend and fellow-townsman of the present 
executive. I do not think that Governor Hill will be unmindful 
of those considerations. If the bill comes before him for his 
approval, I believe he will now consummate the work inaugu- 
rated by his distinguished townsmen and carried forward by the 
present chief magistrate of our country. 

"I appeal to the members of this committee to give this really 
gre^t bill, the most important now before the Legislature, and 



FREE NIAGARA 67 

one of the most noted and worthy measures in the legislative 
history of our State, their favorable consideration." 

The bill was reported favorably, and passed both the Senate 
and Assembly. After it was sent to the executive mansion, 
(lovemor Hill accompanied by his militarj' secretary came to 
Niagara Falls and was shown around the proposed reservation 
by the late Judge Cyrus E. Davis and Hon. Thomas V. Welch. 
Later Mr. Welch, Captain Benjamin Flagler, and Major James 
Low went to Albany and were there when Governor Hill signed 
the bill April 30, I8H0, just two years after Governor Cleveland 
signed the first bill. There was a big jollification when the news 
of the Governor's action reached Niagara Falls. 

Then began preparations for opening the reserv^ation by the 
State. Pending this, Mr. Welch was put in charge of the prop- 
erty, without salary. General and special committees were 
appointed and they met every Friday. Much hard work was 
done and about thirty-five hundred dollars was subscribed to 
defray the expenses of the most elaborate public ceremonies 
that have ever been held in this region. Invitations were sent 
to prominent people all over the country to attend the opening, 
July 15, 1885. The list included mayors, governors, officers of 
the Dominion of Canada and many others. Replies were received 
from President Cleveland, General Grant, and a great many 
others of state and national fame. The general committee was 
officered by Colonel C. B. Gaskill, president; A. Hector Gluck, 
secretary; and Francis R. Delano, treasurer. The reception 
committee was made up of Franklin Spaulding, Sebastian Geyer, 
Francis R. Delano, Arthur Schoellkopf, Hans Nielson, Major 
S. M. N. Whitney, Hon. Thomas V. Welch, and Benjamin 
Rhodes. 

The details of the great celebration which brought the greatest 
number of people ever seen here at one time, probably about 
seventy-five thousand, are familiar to many present residents 
of Niagara Falls, although a large majority of our citizenship 
was not here at that time. An address was delivered by Era^itus 
Brooks, who presided. Reservation Commissioner William 
Dorsheimer made the presentation .speech, and Governor Hill 
the speech of acceptance, while Hon. James C. Carter was the 
orator of the day. A speech was made by Lieutenant-Governor 
Robinson of the Province of Ontario. 



68 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

On the following day the reservation commissioners met 
and unanimously decided upon Mr. Welch as superintendent. 
After some time to consider, Mr. Welch accepted this appoint- 
ment and served continuously and most efficiently until the time 
of his death, which occurred October 20th, 1903. 

Thirty years have passed and wonderful changes have taken 
place around the great cataracts, and all for the better. 
Today people from all quarters of the globe view the magnificent 
natural wonders here without the annoyances that existed before 
the imperial State of New York became proprietor and made 
this locality free to all mankind forever. The object sought has 
been gloriously attained, and to no one man is due more praise 
and credit than to Hon. Thomas V. Welch, who, during the re- 
mainder of his life, labored assiduously to carry out the letter 
and spirit of the law to which the signature of Governor Hill 
was attached April 30, 1885. 




HONORABLE ARTHIR SCHOELLKOPF 

Mr. .Schofllkopf was nianaKt'r of the Hydraulic Power f'oinpany for many years, and also 

served as Mayor of the City of Niagara Falls 




PAUL A. SCHOELLKOPF 
Manager of the Hydraulic Power Company an<i President of the Power City Bank 



CHAPTER VI 



THE HYDRAULIC CANAL 

Like Many Pioneer Enterprises, Day's Canal was a Financial Failure. 
Then Schoellkopf Acquired it and Made it One of the 
Greatest Enterprises in the Country 



THE inventors and pioneers are frequently in the same 
class. Other people get the chief benefits of their genius 
and labor. An inventor often fills a pauper's grave while 
his genius revolutionizes the line along which it is directed, and 
makes other people millionaires. It is related that ^lergenthaler 
died poor, but his linotype revolutionized printing and is now 
in universal use, while the manufacturers of the marvelous 
machine, with its five thousand interchangeable parts, have 
built up a great business. This is a single instance — many more 
could be cited. The pioneer, whether it be by the settlement 
of a wilderness or by leading the way in any enterprise, blazes 
the path to be traveled by others in pursuit of happiness and 
prosperity 

Thus it was with the great hydraulic power canal development 
at Niagara Falls. Horace H. Day built the hydraulic canal, but 
never profited thereby. He commenced this great work in 1853, 
and completed it in 1861. Then the enterprise was dormant for 
many years. The canal was blasted through the rock, which is 
everywhere close to the surface in the vicinity of the great 
Niagara Gorge. It is related that Day expended $1,000,000 
in building it. His financial resources were gone, and some years 
later the property was sold under foreclosure, and the man who 
bought it was scoffed at by his acquaintances. 

The power of Niagara was first utilized in 1725 by a primi- 
tive saw mill. In 1805 Augustus Porter built a saw mill and 

(69) 



70 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

blacksmith shop, and in 1807 a grist mill. A raceway from the 
upper rapids was employed. In 1826 the race or wing dam was 
extended, and other parties used it for various works. DeWitt 
Clinton, the father of the Erie Canal, and at one time governor 
of New York, in 1810 wrote in his journal that Niagara Falls 
is "the best place for hydraulic works in the world." Augustus 
Porter saw this, and for several years made favorable offers to 
capitalists. In 1842 he suggested development of power from the 
river on a larger scale, and, in January, 1847, with Peter Emslie, 
a civil engineer, published a plan. The first arrangement for 
development was made with Walter Bryant and ex-Mayor 
Caleb S. Woodhull of New York. 

The canal which Horace H. Day built was thirty-five feet 
wide, eight feet deep, and 4,400 feet long, from the upper river 
to the top of the high bank of the lower river, where there is a 
fall of 212 feet. Years later it was demonstrated that the "mill" 
will "grind with the water that is passed," contrary to the old 
saying, for there was a mill on top of the bank and another in 
the gorge using the same water. The heirs of Augustus Porter 
gave a right-of-way one hundred feet wide through the village 
of Niagara Falls and more land at the terminal for the basin. 
Largely as the result of the construction of the hydraulic canal 
and the railway suspension bridge, the population of the village 
of Niagara Falls increased materially from 1850 to 1860. Hence, 
both in village days more than half a century ago, and in city 
days, from 1910 to 1915, Niagara Falls made the largest per- 
centage of growth of any community in the State. 

The first user of power from the hydraulic canal was Captain 
Charles B. Gaskill, who completed a grist mill in 1875. 

Mr. Day and his associates organized the Niagara Falls 
Hydraulic Company on March 22, 1853, and the work was 
actually commenced on April 20 of that year. Following the 
completion of the canal in 1861, the enterprise languished, not- 
withstanding the undoubted opportunities for manufacturing 
by means of cheap power that the hydraulic canal afforded, and 
it was about fifteen years later that any use whatever was made 
of this power development. The capital originally invested 
proved to be a total loss. 

In Niagara Falls today we speak of horse-power as they speak 
of millions of money in New York City which, as the result of 



THE HYDRAULIC CANAL 71 

the European war, has become the financial center of the world. 
Niagara Falls is the hydro-electrical power center of the world, 
and there is actually developed from the Niagara River over 
600,000 hydro-electrical horse-power. What we mean when we 
speak of horse-power is the power that must be exerted in lifting 
83,000 pounds at the rate of one foot per minute. On the same 
basis, one horse-power would lift 550 pounds at the rate of one 
foot per second. 

The hydraulic canal property was purchased by Jacob F. 
Schoellkopf of Buffalo in 1877, and three generations of the 
Schoellkopf family have been in its control and management 
ever since. Mr. Schoellkopf was himself a striking illustration 
of the possibilities of American life. He was a German emigrant 
with no property when he came to America. He first worked for 
wages, but soon established and built up various lines of business, 
giving employment to many people, and finally became a mil- 
lionaire. His farsightedness, energy and constructive genius 
changed the hydraulic canal property from failure to success. Of 
course it had to be improved and expanded. Mr. Schoellkopf 
and his associates built a flour-mill on the canal basin, still known 
as the Schoellkopf & Matthews mill. In 1885 there was 10,000 
horse-power available from the hydraulic canal. L^pon acquiring 
this property, Jacob F. Schoellkopf sent his son, Arthur Schoell- 
kopf, at the age of twenty-one, to Niagara Falls to manage the 
property. Arthur Schoellkopf subsequently became Mayor of 
the city of Niagara Falls, and since his untimely death, in 1913, 
his son, Paul A. Schoellkopf, has had charge of what in recent 
years have become known as the Schoellkopf interests at Niagara 
Falls, which include in addition to the hydraulic canal and asso- 
ciated companies, a big financial institution, the Power City 
Bank, of which Mr. Paul A. Schoellkopf is President. 

Jacob F. Schoellkopf was a native of Krichheim, Germany, 
where he was born in 1819. He lived eighty years, and many 
years before the close of his long life he had become one of the 
leading business men of America, having built houses, stores, 
shops, tanneries, mills, and highways, and managed banks, 
besides bringing to fruition the great power development enter- 
prise at Niagara Falls. Mr. Schoellkopf came to America when 
he was twenty-two years old and located in Buffalo in 1844. 
It was in 1877 that he bought the so-called Day canal, and in 



72 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

1878 he organized the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and 
Manufacturing Company. The title was afterwards shortened 
to the Hydraulic Power Company. 

Of course, a large sum of money has been expended in widen- 
ing the canal to one hundred feet and deepening it to fourteen 
feet according to the original grant. In 1896 the New York 
Legislature enacted a law confirming the riparian rights of the 
company, but limiting them to the diversion of an amount of 
water that could be drawn through its canal one hundred feet 
wide and fourteen feet deep. 

The Schoellkopf & Matthews flour mill that was built to util- 
ize some of the power of the hydraulic canal, was equipped 
with 900 horse-power secured from big wooden wheels, which 
soon were replaced with iron. The head then was fifty feet. 
These wheels were nine feet in diameter, being placed at the 
bottom of iron flumes which were the first iron penstocks used 
at Niagara Falls. It was soon apparent that the greater the head, 
the greater the power, and another flour mill was erected, using a 
head of eighty-six feet. In 1881 the Power Company installed 
dynamos, and electricity was furnished to some manufacturing 
concerns and for village lighting. The first illumination of 
Niagara Falls, at night, took place at about this time. This 
was the first use of electric power here, and the first wheels that 
were put in were smashed by the force of the water. It took 
much experimenting to get apparatus strong enough to with- 
stand the pressure. The turbines were placed in pits excavated 
from twenty-two to ninety feet down the cliff. 

It was in 1895 that the predecessor of the Hydraulic Power 
Company began its modern and extensive electrical power 
development. Power station No. 2 was built at the water's edge 
in the gorge and utilized the greater head. This generating 
plant has now practically been superseded by power station 
No 3, architecturally and otherwise one of the finest in the world. 
Within its walls there are thirteen generators of tenant com- 
panies, of 10,000 horse-power capacity each, to which the 
Hydraulic Power Company delivers mechanical power. The 
water from the surface canal flows through gateways into steel 
penstocks through which it falls 212 feet upon the wheels. The 
generators make 300 revolutions per minute. This power station 
is 500 feet long, and the hydraulic efficiency from headwater to 




JACOB F. SCIIOKI.LKOPF 
Founder of the Hydraulic Power Company of Niagara Falls, N. Y. 



THE HYDRAULIC CANAL 73 

tailwater is ninety per cent, while an electrical eflBciency of 
ninety-five per cent is obtained by its major tenant company. 

The Hydraulic Power Company has passed through all the 
stages of development from low head grist mills and paper mills, 
culminating in the highest hydro-electric efficiency as found in 
its power station No. 3. The company sells its mechanical 
power to the Aluminum Company of America and to the Cliff 
Electrical Distributing Company, which latter concern is owned 
by the Schoellkopf interests. None of this company's power is 
sold outside of the city of Niagara Falls, and none of it is used 
outside of the city. The water wheels in its power plant were 
built by the I. P. Morris Company of Philadelphia, and the 
generators by the Allis-Chalmers Company, except those used 
by the Aluminum Company of America, which were built by 
the General Electric Company. The horizontal type of water 
wheel is employed, in contradistinction to the vertical type. 
As the water from the upper river is carried through a surface 
canal to the edge of the cliff with a loss of less than two feet in 
the head, and then to the water's edge in the gorge, the employ- 
ment of the horizontal type of wheels with their inherent advan- 
tages is permitted. The water from the canal is led from the 
canal to the penstocks around long curves, and the velocity is 
changed slowly with little loss of efficiency. 

At the gate-house overlooking the gorge, the water passes 
under steel booms which exclude floating drift or ice, into a 
housed and heated screen chamber, where it goes through racks 
which intercept any trash carried by the stream. Then the 
water enters the penstocks, which are circular steel tubes leading 
down over the cliff to the turbines on the floor of the power 
house, twenty-three feet above the ordinary level of the river 
in the gorge. After passing through the horizontal turbines and 
delivering ninety per cent of its energy to them, the water is 
led by draft tubes to the river. Between the discharge of the 
draft tubes and the river surface a concrete wier is set, whose 
purpose is to keep the tube always submerged and effective in 
low stages of the river. 

To the turbine shafts are connected electric generators of 
the tenant or allied companies which are supplied with mechan- 
ical power by the Hydraulic Power Company. More than half 
of the total energy developed by this company is employed in 



74 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

its ultimate capacity within a quarter of a mile of the turbine 
shaft which evolves it. Most of its power is used in electro- 
metallurgical and electro-chemical manufacturing processes, but 
a portion is used in the manufacture of paper and other articles. 

Only a little of the water is used for industrial purposes 
direct without conversion into the energy of motion or electri- 
city. In the early days of water power development at Niagara 
Falls, turbine wheels operated with some risk of flying to pieces 
on heads exceeding seventy to eighty feet, and the cliff develop- 
ments were then under relatively low heads. Since 1906 all but 
263 cubic feet per second out of more than 1,000 cubic feet so 
used has been reclaimed by the Hydraulic Power Company for 
use with the full practicable head of 212 feet. 

The oflSce building and other structures of the Hydraulic 
Power Company recently erected have been constructed of 
rubble masonry, a type developed entirely for scenic effect, 
although, of course, also very substantial. On the face of the 
cliff a gigantic rubble masonry wall, over 200 feet high, has been 
constructed, covering the penstocks that lead to the power house 
below. The expense of this work was more than $100,000. In 
some instances it is impossible for the naked eye to detect the 
difference between the artificial and the natural formation. 
This stupendous piece of masonry was constructed after the 
so-called Taft Scenic Commission, a committee of men named 
by William H. Taft when he was Secretary of War, had recom- 
mended the beautifying of the cliff. Chief Engineer John L. 
Harper of the Hydraulic Power Company, who designed and 
supervised the work, won a signal triumph in engineering, because 
the Taft Commission testified that its recommendation had 
more than been fulfilled. 

The so-called hydraulic canal basin, where the pioneer power 
user was the Gaskill flour mill, is now covered with important 
manufacturing establishments and the buildings used by the 
power company. There is a boulevard through it and decorative 
lighting at night, and the power company's property there 
has been beautified generally. On the river side of power station 
No. 3 there is an upper and lower promenade with potted plants 
the whole length of each of them, and shrubbery has been planted 
on the slope of the river bank. In fact, it is authoritatively stated 
that the company expended for these improvements and the 




VIEW OF POWEK .STATION, CATK IIOLiSE AND OFFICE OF THE IIVDHAILIC I'UWEK COMPANY 

Taken from Canadian side of Rivei 




VIEW OF CJENEKAloU Id )oM IN .STATION OWNED li\ I 

OF NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. 



\DHAUI.IC POWER COMPANY 



""mk^^i^^'s 



iili)i::m'!* 




11 II 



, '^i» 



i 



titm 



.-lliLMWSifi'^v; 



ONE 5,000 HORSE-POWER GENERATOR AND GOVERNOR IN POWER HOUSE No. 2 OF THE 
NIAGARA FALLS POWER COMPANY 




VIEW OF WATER WHEEL ROOM OF THE HYDRAULIC COMPANY AT NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. 
Contains 13 units of 10,000 horse-power each 



THE HYDRAULIC CANAL 75 

great rubble masonry wall, a total of over $155,000. The 
Hydraulic Power Company owns the high bank from a short 
distance below the upper steel arch bridge to about a mile below, 
and its plan, now well begun, is to make this water front one of 
the most beautiful spots to be seen in any country. Visitors are 
welcome to the power plant and are escorted through it. 

As the lands above the canal basin came to be fully occupied, 
the company several years ago purchased one hundred acres of 
land in the northern part of the city and there established a 
second industrial district. Several large manufacturing plants 
are now located there which use electric power from the hydraulic 
canal. All facilities are provided, such as pavement, sewers, 
water mains, steam railroad siding, and electric railroad trans- 
portation. 

The courage of the pioneer, Day, and the combined courage 
and genius of the German emigrant, Schoellkopf, have made all 
these things possible. 

Right here it is interesting to note a new illustration of the 
potentiality of the Falls of Niagara. It is made by Francis C. 
Shenehon, principal assistant engineer of the United States 
Government, and dean of engineering of the University of 
Minnesota at Minneapolis, who has devoted much time and 
study to the subject, and who has made an elaborate official 
report to the National Government, which is published as a 
Senate document. Mr. Shenehon says: 

"A volume of 210,000 cubic feet per second, with a descent 
between the 'dead line' and the upper gorge of 220 feet, has 
a potential of over 5,000,000 horse-power. This is the power of 
15,000,000 strong draft horses each limited to an eight-hour day. 
If it takes ten able-bodied men to do the work of one of these 
draft horses, the work potential in this fall is that of 150,000,000 
men, nearly twice our population of men, women and children. 
The great companies at the Falls have created, in good faith, 
power plants to lessen the hardships of human labor, to aid 
transportation, to illuminate the night hours and to add to the 
wealth of two nations." 



CHAPTER VII 



BEGINNING OF ELECTRICAL 
DEVELOPMENT 

Charter for The Niagara Falls Power Company Passed Through the 

Legislature by Assembljmian Peter A. Porter of Niagara Falls. 

First Sod for Tunnel Turned Oct. 4, 1890 

THE beginning of the project of the electrical development of 
power at Niagara Falls was the passage by the New York 
Legislature of a special charter drawn by Hon.W. Caryl Ely, 
and introduced by Assemblyman Peter A. Porter of Niagara 
Falls, a descendant of the family that long owned Goat Island 
and much property immediately adjoining the Falls on the 
mainland, on March 31st, 1886, granting to The Niagara Falls 
Power Company the right to develop 120,000 horse-power from 
a tunnel. The projectors were Colonel Charles B. Gaskill, 
the first user of water-power from the hydraulic canal, and 
seven others. It was estimated that 120,000 horse-power exceeds 
the theoretical power at Lawrence, Holj'oke, Lowell, Turners 
Falls, Manchester, Windsor Locks, Bellows Falls and Cohoes, 
and exceeds the power actually developed at these places and 
at Augusta, Paterson and Minneapolis. The work of excavating 
for the tunnel was started October 4, 1890, by the Cataract 
Construction Compan5% an auxiliary of the Power Company. 
The tunnel was constructed by Rodgers and Clement, and the 
wheelpit by Anthony C. Douglass, afterwards mayor of the city 
for four years. The intake canal, one and one-quarter miles 
above the Falls, is 250 feet wide, twelve feet deep, and 1,200 
feet long. The wheelpit is 178 feet deep. The tunnel is 7,481 
feet long, and the interior dimensions twenty-one feet by eighteen 
feet, six inches. It runs about 200 feet below the city of Niagara 
Falls, the slope being six feet in one thousand. In excavating 

(76) 



ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 77 

for it, 300,000 tons of rock were taken out; for lining it, 16,000,000 
bricks were used. The initial installation was for 15,000 horse- 
power. Its generators are of 5,000 and 5,500 horse-power in its 
two power stations at Niagara Falls, New York, and 10,000 
and 12,500 horse-power at the plant of its allied company, the 
Canadian Niagara Power Company, at Niagara Falls, Ontario. 

On August 26, 1895, Niagara electric power was first deliv- 
ered, commercially, by The Niagara Falls Power Company, 
the first customer being the Pittsburg Reduction Company, 
which has since changed its name to the Aluminum Company 
of America, and now has three great plants at Niagara Falls, 
using about 75,000 electrical horse-power, this company being 
undoubtedly the largest power user in the world. There are only 
twelve aluminum-making concerns in the world. This company 
also has a plant at Shawinigan Falls and Massena Springs on the 
St. Lawrence River, and it is by long odds the largest producer 
of aluminum. It employs over one thousand men at Niagara 
Falls. This great industry was made possible by the electrical 
harnessing of the Falls at Niagara. 

The first plan for the electrical development of power at 
Niagara Falls was made by Thomas Evershed, State engineer 
of New York, who laid out the State Reservation at Niagara, 
the property which the State acquired in the vicinity of the Falls; 
removed objectionable structures upon and restored to natural 
conditions, and who, many years before, had done there work 
for the State Geological Survey. It took three years to interest 
capital in The Niagara Falls Power Company development. 
This great work was done chiefly by William B. Rankine, a 
young Niagara Falls lawyer, who went to New York and inter- 
ested great financiers like J. Pierpont Morgan, John Jacob Astor, 
Francis Lynde Stetson, Hamilton McK. Twombly, Edward A. 
Wickes, Morris K. Jessup, Darius Ogden Mills, Edward D. 
Adams, Charles F. Clark, Charles Lanier, A. J. Forbes-Leith, 
Walter Howe, John Crosby Brown, Frederick W. Whitridge, 
William K. Vanderbilt, George S. Bowdoin, Joseph Larocque, 
of New York, and Charles A. Sweet of Buffalo. Mr. Rankine 
was the first secretary of the Company, and later vice-president, 
dying an untimely death in 1905, but not until the great project 
which he promoted was in successful operation. 

The power-producing capacity of the great cataracts is 

*6 



78 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

estimated by the most eminent engineers at from five million 
to seven million horse-power. The diversity in the figures is 
explained by the difference in the flow of the river caused at 
various times by the direction and velocity of the wind, or an 
occasional ice jam in winter. Aside from these elements and the 
seven-year cycle in which all waters are said to move, there being 
high and low water periods, there is no perceptible difference 
in the flow of the river. The average flow of the river is 222,400 
cubic feet per second. A flow of one cubic foot per second equals 
one square mile of water 1.16 inches deep in a thirty-day month. 
The flow of the Niagara River is furnished by six thousand 
cubic miles of water from four lakes, having ninety thousand 
square miles of reservoir space. The drainage area that feeds 
the Niagara River covers 255,000 square miles, of which 59.4 
per cent lies on the American side of the boundary line. The 
annual rain and snow that falls over this watershed amounts 
to nearly thirty-one inches of water. The extreme width of the 
river is one mile, and the two channels above the Falls are 3,800 
feet wide. The American Falls is 165 feet high and 1,000 feet 
wide, and the Horseshoe Falls is 159 feet high and 2,600 feet in 
width. The greatest depth of the river just below the Falls is 
192 feet. The flow of water over the Falls of Niagara is about 
25,000,000 tons an hour, or one cubic mile per week. 

To show the fluctuation in the flow of the Niagara River, 
the result of various tests that have been made during a period 
of more than fifty years may be cited. Inasmuch as the electrical 
development of power was commenced about twenty years ago, 
it will be seen that many of these tests were previous to that 
period. Joseph William Winthrop Spencer, M.A., Ph.D., F. G. S., 
an eminent authority on this subject, has given the figures and 
dates in a comprehensive publication which he issued for the 
Canadian Government. On October 7, 1853, the flow was 
314,000 cubic feet per second, or 7,562,000 horse-power. In 
the month of June, 1862, the flow was 260,000 cubic foot seconds, 
or 6,264,000 horse-power. The average flow for the year 1862 
was 242,000 cubic foot seconds, or 5,854,000 horse-power. For 
the entire period, from 1860 to 1890, the average flow was 226,000 
cubic foot seconds, or 5,444,000 horse-power. From 1860 to 
1905 it was 205,000 cubic foot seconds, or 4,915,000 horse-power. 
On February 28, 1902, there was an ice jam, and the flow of the 



ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 79 

river that day was only 158,500 cubic foot seconds, or 3,818,000 
horse-power, while for the whole month of Februarj' that year 
the average flow was 175,000 cubic foot seconds, or 4,216,000 
horse-power. 

In this connection, it can be stated that each cubic foot of 
water per second has in it potential energy amounting to twenty- 
three horse-power. Each cubic foot of water weighs sixty-two 
and one half pounds. 

It is estimated that 100 horse-power steam power costs $4,000 
per year for ten hours per day. At Niagara Falls 100 horse- 
power electrical power costs $2,000 per year, twenty -four hours 
per day. With electrical power, each machine may be driven by 
an independent motor, without belt or gearing. The volt is the 
unit of electrical pressure. The ampere is the unit of electrical 
current. A volt multiplied by an ampere equals a watt. The 
watt is the unit of electrical power. One thousand watts equals 
one kilowatt. Seven hundred forty-six watts equal one horse- 
power. 

The descent of the Niagara River, from lake to lake, is 336 
feet, of which 216 feet is in the rapids above the Falls and in the 
Falls themselves, distributed as follows: 

Ft. 

From Lake Erie to the commencement of the Rapids (21 1-2 miles), 16 

In the half mile above the Falls 56 

In the Falls themselves 161 

From the Falls to Lewiston (7 miles) 98 

From Lewiston to Lake Ontario (7 miles) 7 

Total 336 

Depth of pool from foot of Horseshoe Falls to two miles below, 
100 to 200 feet. 

In Whirlpool Rapids, depth averages 50 feet; current, 30 
miles per hour. 

Depth 200 to 300 yards above cantilever bridge, 186 feet. 

Depth under cantilever bridge, 85 feet. 

It is estimated that there is now invested about sixty million 
of dollars in power development at Niagara Falls. It is estimated 
that the entire cost of the Catskill Mountain water supply pro- 
ject for New York City will be $161,800,000. The original 
estimate of cost for the construction of the Panama Canal has 



80 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

been nearly trebled and the cost finally reached something like 
$400,000,000. This piece of work runs into far more money, 
but it does not involve the intricate detail of either of the other 
projects. The Panama Canal is simply a gigantic excavation 
with the construction of ponderous locks and a dam. Were it 
not for the slides, no wonderful skill would be required. The 
Catskill reservoir and aqueduct are far more involved proposi- 
tions. The conveying of the aqueduct under the Hudson River 
at Storm King and Breakneck was a wonderful piece of engi- 
neering. In order to strike the right kind of rock, the great tube 
was bored from 1,000 to 1,400 feet under the river and up on the 
opposite side, thus creating a great siphon, the force of the water 
starting 610 feet above the level of the sea in the Ashokan reser- 
voir being sufficient to carry it up a steep grade. As a matter of 
fact, the force of the water will be so great that no pipe would 
hold it, and it is necessary to lead it through the solid rock. 
Sometimes the aqueduct is near the surface, and again it is 400 
feet below the surface, this deep excavation being made to reach 
the right kind of rock. If the aqueduct were level, a railroad 
train could run through it and have plenty of room all around 
it. Still there were precedents for most of the work done on the 
water supply project. 

For the Niagara Falls electrical power development there were 
no precedents. It was an experiment. It required lots of money, 
like the others, and it also required boundless courage and infinite 
skill. For the material advancement of mankind, it meant 
more than either of the others. Water is a requirement of human 
life, of course, and the Panama Canal will aid our commerce 
and our prestige upon the high seas, but the subtle current 
that is created from the flow of the peerless Niagara has revolu- 
tionized living conditions, and its products today enter into 
nearly every manufacturing industry. It has built an industrial 
center on the site of a summer resort in twenty years, and its 
impulse is felt from ocean to ocean and across the seas as well. 
It marked the trail for many similar undertakings, none of which 
can equal it in magnitude. 

The power development at Niagara Falls has been of untold 
value to the nation. It is the biggest thing in the electrical 
world, and it was the forerunner of all other undertakings of its 
kind. The brains and the capital that did it blazed the way for 




INTKKIOR OF I'OWEIl Hoi SIO NO. 1 OF THE MAOAKA FALLS I'oW FK COMPANY 




EXTERIOR or THE POWER HOUSE OF THE CANADIAN NIAGARA POWER COMPANY 



1^1 i^ 




EXTERIOR OF POWKH KOI SE Xn. i' cF THE NLVGARA FALLS POWER COMPANY 




MEW OF FoY];h of PoWJOR house No. 2 OF THE NL^GARA FALLS POWER COMPANY 



ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 81 

all similar undertakings. The resultant benefits to mankind can 
hardly be fully recited. It has been well stated that the effect of 
the great electrical development has been to lessen the hardships 
of human labor, to aid transportation, to illuminate the night 
hours, and to add to the wealth of two nations. It is also stated 
in the government report that: "The power houses, for the most 
part, are architecturally excellent, harmonizing with the scenic 
surroundings, and the mechanical wonders wrought in solving the 
engineering problems of the utilization of this great head and 
volume of water rival as a spectacle the scenic grandeur of the 
Falls, and add to the attractiveness of the region." 

Mr. Evershed announced his first formal plan and estimate 
for the electrical development of Niagara power on July 1, 1886. 
The discussion that followed was intended to show that the plan 
was impracticable. Much was also said to the effect that there 
would be little demand for the power if developed. The electric 
furnace, a great consumer of electricity, was then unknown. 
Over three years later, August 8, 1889, the Nation published 
an article whose purpose was to demonstrate that the Evershed 
tunnel was not practicable, and that if built the venture would 
not be profitable. Six years later electric power was delivered 
from that tunnel by Westinghouse apparatus, although George 
Westinghouse had pooh-poohed the idea five years before. The 
New York Legislature not only granted the charter for the 
present 120,000 horse-power tunnel, but the further right to 
construct another tunnel of 100,000 horse-power capacity. On 
account of federal restrictions, the second tunnel has never been 
constructed. The Niagara Falls Power Company, by its auxiliary, 
the Canadian-Niagara Power Company, originally planned to 
develop 250,000 horse-power on the other side of the river. It 
is pointed out that the United States census of 1880 showed 
that there was then in use in this country a total of 1,225,379 
horse-power from water wheels, and that, therefore, the develop- 
ment planned by The Niagara Falls Power Company equaled 
more than a third of the power in the entire country. Should the 
power be developed, the next question was as to its availability, 
and the accessibility of its location, and it was then shown that 
Niagara Falls is within a night's ride of New York, Boston, 
Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Cleveland, 
Chicago and other centers of the United States, and within two 



82 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

or three hours of Toronto, and a night's ride from Montreal, in 
Canada; that Niagara Falls is a natural port of the Great Lakes 
and situated in the midst of a fruitful country. In whatever sense 
the word "fruitful" was then used, it is a fact now that Niagara 
County is one of the greatest fruit-growing regions in the United 
States. By the census of 1900, there were more than one million 
apple trees in Niagara County, and peaches, pears, plums and 
berries are most abundant. 

At the time that the electrical power development at Niagara 
Falls was instituted, coal for the production of steam could be 
purchased for $1.50 per ton. We are near the Pittsburg coal 
district. Electric power must, therefore be cheap. There was 
no thought then that one industrial concern would want 75,000 
horse-power and another 60,000 horse-power. In other words, 
it was not foreseen that two companies would be using 135,000 
horse-power. 

Francis Lynde Stetson, a director of The Niagara Falls Power 
Company, relates that he was in England in 1890, and was told 
by an eminent gentleman that it was useless to talk about water- 
power, because steam power could be produced from coal at a 
cost of a farthing an hour. Mr. Stetson answered: "Very well, 
let us work out the problem. Coal, at a farthing an hour, would, 
in America, represent five cents for a day of ten hours, or twelve 
cents for a day of twenty -four hours, which is, for three hundred 
days in a year, fifteen dollars for the short day, and thirty-six 
dollars for the long day for fuel only. At Niagara we will gladly 
furnish continuous twenty-four-hour water-power for fifteen 
dollars per year, in any considerable quantity." After much 
investigation, the officers of the Power Company determined 
that twenty-four-hour steam horse-power is not produced any- 
where in the world for less than twenty-four dollars per year, 
and that in the production of steam power the cost of the fuel 
does not represent more than one-half of the total cost. 

When it came to the adoption of a general plan. Dr. Coleman 
Sellers, of Philadelphia, was retained by the Power Company 
as consulting engineer, and Clemens Herschel as hydraulic 
engineer. Minor modifications of Mr. Evershed's plan were 
made. 

To get the latest information in regard to turbines and also 
about power transmission, Edward D. Adams, president of the 



ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 83 

company, established in London in June, 1890, an International 
Niagara Commission with power to award twenty-two thousand 
dollars in prizes. The Commission was made up of Sir William 
Thomson, afterwards Lord Kelvin, as chairman; Dr. Coleman 
Sellers of Philadelphia; Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Turrettini, 
of Geneva, Switzerland, and Professor E. Mascart of the College 
of France. The Secretary of the Commission was Professor 
Cawthorne Unwin, Dean of the Central Institute of the Guilds 
of the city of London. Investigation was then made in England, 
Switzerland, France and Italy, and twenty competitive plans 
were submitted to the Commission prior to January 1, 1891. 
The result of the competition was the selection of Messrs. Feasch 
and Piccard of Geneva as designers of the turbines. They were 
of the Fourneyron inverted twin type and were manufactured 
by the I. P. Morris Company of Philadelphia, Pa. These turbines 
have been replaced with Francis single-type turbines of the inward 
flow type, designed by C. C. Egbert, mechanical engineer of the 
Power Company, and manufactured by the Bethlehem Steel 
Company of South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The original 
turbines were not provided with draft tubes. Those now in 
use are equipped with single, central draft tubes. The turbines 
in Power House No. 2 are of the Francis type with single runners, 
but with double draft tubes. They were designed by Escher 
Wyss & Company of Zurich, Switzerland, and were built and 
installed by the I. P. Morris Company of Philadelphia. At the 
Canadian plant, turbines Nos. 1 to 5 are of the Francis double 
runner inward discharge type with double draft tubes, also de- 
signed by Escher Wyss & Company by whom turbines Nos. 
1 to 3 were manufactured and installed. Turbines Nos. 4 and 5 
were manufactured and installed by the I. P. Morris Company. 
Turbines Nos. 6 and 7 are of the Francis double inward discharge 
type, designed by Mr. Egbert and manufactured by the Bethle- 
hem Steel Company. They are equipped with a third draft 
tube, centrally located, to take the discharge from the lower 
runner. Turbines 8, 9 and 10 are of the Francis type with single 
runners, designed by Mr. Egbert and manufactured by the 
Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Company of Cleveland, Ohio. 

The flow of water at the turbine wheels is controlled auto- 
matically by governors which maintain a constant speed at the 
electric generators no matter what change occurs in the load. 



84 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Earlier types of governors installed in the American Power House 
No. 1 have been superseded by oil pressure governors which are 
now in use throughout the three power houses of the American 
and the Canadian companies. These governors were designed 
by Escher Wyss & Company, by whom the governors in American 
Power House No. 1 and in the Canadian Power House were 
manufactured. The governors in Power House No. 2 were 
manufactured by Falkenau-Sinclair Machine Company, of 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

The ten generators in Power House No. 1 are of the external 
revolving field type, and were designed and manufactured by 
the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company of 
Pittsburg, Pa. The eleven generators in Power House No. 2 
were designed and manufactured by the General Electric Com- 
pany of Schenectady, N.Y. The first six generators in Power 
House No. 2 are similar in design to those in Power House No. 1. 
The other five have internal revolving fields. Of the ten genera- 
tors in the Canadian plant, five were designed and built by the 
General Electric Company of Schenectady, N. Y., and five by 
the Canadian Westinghouse Company of Hamilton, Ontario. 
All have internal revolving fields. 

The aggregate weight of the revolving parts of each turbine 
and electric generator, together with the sections of hollow and 
solid shafting connecting the two, amounts to from 150,000 
to 268,000 pounds. In American Power House No. 1 this entire 
weight is supported by a combination oil pressure and roller 
thrust bearing. In Power House No. 2 and in the Canadian 
plant the revolving mass is for the most part counterbalanced 
by the hydrostatic upward pressure of water in a compartment 
of the turbine wheel case acting upon the lower surface of a disc 
secured to the shaft. In addition to this balance piston an oil 
pressure thrust bearing is placed in each vertical shaft just below 
the power house floor. This thrust bearing consists of two discs, 
the lower one stationary and the upper one attached to the 
revolving shaft. Between these two discs oil is forced under 
heavy pressure, the weight of the shaft and revolving parts 
being carried by the film of oil between the two discs. 

Two main switchboards are installed in Power House No. 1, 
each controlling and distributing the output of five generators. 
The main generator and feeder switches are operated pneu- 



ELFXTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 85 

matically, and were designed and built by the Westinghouse 
Electric & Manufacturing Company. In the case of Power 
House No. 2 and of the Canadian Power House, the entire output 
of each plant is controlled and distributed from a single operating 
switchboard through groups of electro-magnetically operated 
oil-break generator and feeder switches. The switchboard 
appliances in these two plants were designed by the General 
Electric Company under specifications of the Power Company's 
engineers. 

On the Power Company's lands adjoining the power house 
on the American side of the river are located some thirty indus- 
tries, utilizing over 106,000 horse-power for manufacturing 
purposes. Except in the case of the more distant plants, the 
power for these industries is distributed at generator voltage, 
namely, 2,200 volts, two-phase. For the more distant plants, 
the voltage is stepped up in transformers from 2,200 volts, two- 
phase, to 11,000 volts, three-phase. The local distributing 
plant consists of a subway 2,155 feet long, with a horseshoe- 
shaped cross section 3.83 feet by 5.5 feet and of 1,031,000 duct 
feet of conduit composed of vitrified tile ducts. Approximately 
ninety per cent of these ducts are three and one-half inches in 
diameter and the remainder four inches in diameter. The con- 
duits contain about 550,000 feet of lead sheath copper cable. 
Approximately one-half of this cable is 3-0, three-conductor, and 
insulated for operation at 11,000 volts. The remainder consists 
principally of 1,000,000 and 1,250,000 cm cable insulated for 
operation at 2,200 volts. On the Canadian side of the river 
the local distributing plant consists of one three-phase, 2,200- 
volt and one three-phase, 11,000-volt overhead circuit having 
an aggregate length of about ten miles. 

For long-distance transmission, the electrical power delivered 
by the generators is stepped up to a higher voltage in order 
to decrease as much as possible the transmission losses and the 
cost of transmission lines.- This is done by means of trans- 
formers located in transformer stations near the different power 
houses. The step-up transformer plant on the American side 
of the river contains twenty air-blast transformers of 1,250 
horse-power each, built by the General Electric Company, 
which change the generated current from 2,200-volt, two-phase, 
to 22,000-volt, three-phase, and fourteen oil insulated, water- 



86 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

cooled transformers of 2,500 horse-power each, built by the 
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, which 
transform the generated current into three-phase current at 
either 11,000 volts or 22,000 volts, as may be required. On the 
Canadian side of the river, the step-up transformer plant, located 
on the bluff above the Power House, contains fifteen 1,675 
horse-power transformers built by the General Electric Company, 
and six 5,850 horse-power transformers built by the Canadian 
Westinghouse Company, which change the generated current 
from 11,000 volts, three-phase, to either 22,000, 33,000, 38,500 
or 57,300 volts, three-phase, by slight changes in the con- 
nections. 

From the step-up transformer plant overhead, circuits dis- 
tribute the electrical power at 22,000 volts to Buffalo, the Tona- 
wandas, Lockport, Olcott and Fort Erie. At various central 
points, substations are located, in which step-down transformers, 
converters, etc., are installed, and from which the power is again 
distributed in convenient form for the local customers. From 
the American step-up transformer station, the long distance 
distributing plant to Buffalo comprises two separate and distinct 
pole lines, 19.5 and 22.5 miles long, carrying four tri-phase 
transmission circuits. Two circuits consist of copper cable 
350,000 circular mils in cross section, approximately 0.7 inch 
in diameter; the other two circuits are of aluminum cable having 
a cross section of 500,000 circular mils and a diameter of approxi- 
mately 0.8 inch. On the Canadian side of the river there are two 
pole lines carrying four tri-phase 22,000 volt transmission circuits. 
The poles on this line are steel of special construction designed 
by the Power Company's engineers. The conductors are alum- 
inum cables 500,000 circular mils in section and having thirty- 
seven strands. The transmission lines on both sides of the river 
can be interconnected at the Buffalo end, making almost impos- 
sible any serious interruption to the Buffalo service. 

The Niagara Falls Power Company owns about two miles 
of continuous river frontage on the Niagara River and about 
1,100 acres of land in the city of Niagara Falls, and in the town 
of Niagara, all of which is reserved for manufacturing purposes. 
A terminal railway runs through the lands belonging to the 
Power Company and directly connects each factory by means 
of sidings with all the great east and west trunk lines centering 



ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 87 

at Buffalo. Connection can also be made by water with the 
Great Lakes and with the Erie Canal. 

On the Canadian side of the river, the Canadian Niagara 
Power Company owns similar manufacturing sites conveniently 
located near the Grand Trunk and Michigan Central Railways. 

In the matter of the transmission of power for considerable 
distances, Mr. Stetson made a tour in 1890 accompanied by 
John Bogart, another former State engineer of New York, and 
they observed five instances of the transmission of power by 
manila or wire ropes at SchafiFhausen, Winterthur, Zurich and 
Fribourg in Switzerland, and at Bellegrade, France. Later 
hydraulic transmission was observed in Switzerland and pneu- 
matic transmission in Paris, which, among other things, operated 
over thirty thousand clocks. The electrical transmission of 
power was found in operation in Oyannax, Domene and Paris 
in France and in the buildings of the Oerkiken Company, near 
Zurich, Switzerland. This was the foundation for the system 
adopted by The Niagara Falls Power Company. 

It is interesting to note that, while the greatest quantity of 
electrical energy is generated at Niagara Falls, this is the pioneer 
development, and that there are several long transmission lines 
in this vicinity; nevertheless, the first great harnessing of the 
waters of the Niagara River has been followed by other smaller 
hydro-electric works, and the construction of transmission lines 
in other parts of the country. These include a plant at Los 
Angeles, Cal., with a transmission line 130 miles long; one at 
San Francisco with a transmission line 100 to 200 miles long; 
one at Tolo, Ore., with a transmission line 100 miles long; one 
at Post Falls, Washington, with a transmission line 110 miles 
long; and one in the City of Mexico with a transmission line 
173 miles long. The largest capacity of horse-power reported 
by any plant outside of Niagara Falls is sixty thousand at San 
Francisco, and the same amount at Duluth, Minn. 

In 1891 The Niagara Falls Power Company, under advice of 
Professor Rowland of Johns Hopkins University, Professor 
George Forbes, London, and Dr. Sellers, invited competitive 
plans and estimates for the development of its electrical power 
and for its transmission, both locally and at Buffalo. As a result 
it adopted a two-phase alternating generator of five thousand 
horse-power, developing about two thousand volts with a fre- 



88 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

quency of twenty-five as the best method for development. 
The dynamo was designed by Professor Forbes, the company's 
electrical engineer, and Professor Forbes provided that the field 
magnets should revolve instead of the armature. The Westing- 
house Electric Company of Pittsburg was given the contract. 
The first transmission of electric power by this companj^ as well 
as its first delivery, was to the Pittsburg Reduction Company, 
whose name was afterwards changed to the Aluminum Company 
of America, whose plant No. 1 is located on the lands of the 
Power Company 2,500 feet from the power houses. At that time 
electrical engineers estimated that power could be transmitted 
as far as Albany, 330 miles away, at a less cost than steam power 
can be produced for, but a transmission of this length has not 
yet been attempted, in fact the principal transmission of current 
of The Niagara Falls Power Company is to Buffalo. 

In the beginning of the use of Niagara energy. Professor 
Unwin, Secretary of the Niagara International Commission, 
said: "Manufacturers have not yet been driven to obtain power 
by purchasing liquified oxygen in Iceland. The coal fields are 
not yet exhausted, but the pressure on trade of the cost of energy 
required is undoubtedly felt. This may be inferred from the 
ceaseless efforts to reduce the consumption of steam in engines, 
and to improve the efficiency of boilers. There are obvious causes 
for this. As trade competition becomes more severe, every item 
of expenditure in carrying on work is scrutinized, and out of many 
small economies a material advantage is reaped. Even if in some 
industries the annual cost of power is a small fraction of the total 
expenditure, any saving on it is a clear addition to profits." 

The period of the construction of the works of The Niagara 
Falls Power Company was a most interesting one. Beginning 
October 4, 1890, with the turning of the first shovelful of dirt 
at shaft No. 1, which was located on New York Central property 
at the junction of Third Street and Falls Street on the East Side, 
which important event was attended with due ceremony, the 
work of construction of the tunnel, wheelpit, intake canal and 
power houses progressed for several years, and of course, was 
not only novel, but of larger proportion than any other piece of 
construction work in this locality. At times Rodgers and Clement 
employed as high as 1,200 men in the excavation of the great 
tunnel. This work was hazardous, and twenty-eight men were 



ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 89 

killed while it was going on. Naturally it brought a rough class 
of men to Niagara Falls, and the police court, presided over then, 
as now, by Police Justice Charles H. Piper, was a busy place. 
Pay-day, which occurred every two weeks, was usually marked 
by serious personal encounters between men engaged on the 
work. Rough buildings were constructed and the men were 
packed in them almost like sardines. A large number of mules 
were used in the work, and many of them were kept down in the 
tunnel. A trip into this great hole in the ground frequently made 
by the writer during those days was a wild experience. There 
were mules, negroes, Italians, Poles and steam drills making a 
scene never to be forgotten. The locality where this work was 
carried on came to be known as the tunnel district and it still 
is so-called. The power houses are dignified and very substan- 
tial structures built of Queenston limestone peculiar to this 
locality. 

The essential hydraulic features of any water development 
are an upper level from which the necessary volume of water can 
be diverted, pipes or penstocks through which the diverted water 
flows, a lower level into which it can be discharged, and suitable 
means of converting the potential energy of the w^ater into a form 
in which it can be readily controlled and utilized. This last may 
be done by means of turbines or water wheels placed at the lower 
ends of the penstocks. 

In all three plants of The Niagara Falls Power Company' 
and the Canadian Niagara Power Company, the same general 
design of power development has been followed. The water is 
drawn in from the level of the upper river through an intake 
canal, and is thence distributed to the inlet chambers at the 
head of each penstock. These chambers are protected along the 
front by iron racks or gratings, which remove all floating ice, 
logs and other debris. In two of the power houses, additional 
protection is obtained by an apron wall outside of the iron racks, 
the water passing from the intake canal into a covered rack 
chamber through arched openings located below the surface of 
the water. 

A lower level for the discharge of the water taken in at the 
penstock inlets is obtained by sinking into the earth through 
solid rock, for a depth of approximately 180 feet, a long, narrow 
shaft, or wheelpit, over which the power house itself is located. 



90 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Down this wheelpit pass a series of parallel vertical penstocks, 
carrying to the turbines below the water diverted from the river 
above. From the turbines, the water is discharged into the 
bottom of the wheelpit and thence finds an outlet to the lower 
level of the river in the gorge below the falls through a long tunnel 
with a horseshoe-shaped cross section cut through solid rock at 
an average depth of 200 feet below the surface. 

The mechanical power developed in each turbine is transmitted 
to the electrical generators located on the power house floor by 
means of revolving vertical steel shafts passing up through the 
wheelpit, there being one generator for each turbine. A governor 
located at the side of each generator operates valves in the 
turbine in the wheelpit below, and automatically controls the 
amount of water flowing through the turbine with any change 
in the amount of electrical power drawn from its generator. 
In the two power houses on the American side, the capacity of the 
turbines and generators is 5,500 horse-power each; in the Cana- 
dian plant, five units of 10,000 horse-power and five units of 
12,500 horse-power are installed. 

From the generators, the power, now in the form of electrical 
energy, is distributed through copper cables to the main copper 
bus bars located in a subway below the power house floor, and 
from these bus bars is sent out over feeder cables run in ducts 
under ground to the different manufacturing establishments 
located nearby, or is sent to the step-up transformer stations for 
transmission at higher voltage to Buffalo, Lockport, the Tona- 
wandas, Olcott, Bridgeburg and Fort Erie. The whole system 
of generators and feeders is controlled and regulated in each 
power house from a main switchboard. 

Power houses Nos. 1 and 2, belonging to The Niagara Falls 
Power Company, and having installed capacity of 115,000 horse- 
power, are located about one mile above the Falls on the Ameri- 
can side of the river. These two installations operate from a 
single intake canal and discharge into a single tunnel having 
sufficient capacity for both plants. The power house of the 
Canadian Niagara Power Company is located on the Canadian 
side of the river a short distance above the Horseshoe Fall. This 
plant has an installed capacity of 112,500 horse-power, with addi- 
tional capacity amounting to 12,500 horse-power in course of 
construction. All three plants are interconnected by heavy 



ELECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT 91 

copper cables for the transmission of electrical energy so that 
power generated in any one plant can be sent out either direct 
to the customers supplied by that plant, or can be transmitted 
through the interconnecting cables to either of the other two 
plants for similar distribution. Thus the whole system is a single 
unit of great flexibility with ample reserve capacity, assuring con- 
tinuous and uninterrupted service to the customers of both 
companies. 

The present officers of The Niagara Falls Power Company 
are: President, Edward A. Wickes, New York City; Vice- 
President and General Manager, Philip P. Barton, Niagara Falls, 
New York; Secretary and Counsel, Frederick L. Lovelace, 
Niagara Falls, New York; Treasurer and Assistant Secretary, 
W. Paxton Little, New York City. 

The present officers of the Canadian Niagara Power Company 
are: President, Wallace Nesbitt, Toronto, Ontario; Vice-Presi- 
dent and Secretary, A. Monroe Grier, Toronto, Ontario; General 
Manager, Philip P. Barton, Niagara Falls, New York; Treasurer, 
W. Paxton Little, New York City. 



CHAPTER VIII 



THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS 

Created March 17, 1892. Its Marvelous Progress and Development. 
In a Quarter of a Century it has Become One of the 
Most Promising Cities in the United States 



THE city of Niagara Falls was created as such when 
Governor Roswell P. Flower signed the city charter on 
March 17th, 1892. 

In the next issue the Niagara Falls Journal, then owned and 
edited by the late Hon. Solon S. Pomroy, one of the veteran 
editors of Niagara County who founded the Lockport Daily Union 
in 1860, said in a two-line editorial: "The city of Niagara Falls. 
She is a clip. She is a copper. She is a dandy." And Editor 
Pomroy was a prophet. Upon the Lockport Daily Union the 
author of this book did his first newspaper work, and he was 
connected with the Journal, of which he afterwards became 
editor and proprietor, at the time that Editor Pomroy wrote the 
lines quoted above. 

The city charter bill was introduced into the Legislature by 
the late Hon. L. Parsons Gillette of the town of Porter, who was 
a member of Assembly from this second Assembly district of 
Niagara County. Governor Flower was ready to sign the 
charter bill on March 16, but Hon. Thomas V. Welch and Hon. 
W. Caryl Ely, both of whom had served three terms in the 
State Assembly, were in Albany, and Mr. Welch requested the 
Governor to defer signing until the following day, which was 
St. Patrick's day. The shamrock, therefore, looms large on the 
city's natal day. 

The city of Niagara Falls was made up of the former villages 
of Niagara Falls and Suspension Bridge and a portion of the rural 

(92) 




C-.\\TII.i;\i;i{ AND STKKL AIU'II BUIDCK 




■'*/ 








I.NTKHNA rioXAI. HAIIAVA'S- SIKKF, AHCII MUIDCK 




THE RAPIDS ABOVE THE FALLS 




THE HORSESHOE FALLS 



THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS 9S 

part of the town of Niagara within which these villages were 
situated. It was at first proposed to include the village of 
LaSalle, not then incorporated, where the explorer of that name 
built the Griffon, but this idea was abandoned. As it is, the 
landed area of the city is 6,970 acres, which includes the 412 
acres in the New York State Reservation at Niagara. The 
population of that territory then was estimated to be about 
10,000. By the United States Census of 1900 it was 19,452; 
in 1910, 30,445, a gain of fifty-six per cent, the greatest per- 
centage of increase of any city in the state except Schenectady; 
whereas the State Census of 1915 showed the population of 
Niagara Falls to be 42,257, the thirty-eight per cent increase 
being the greatest percentage of gain of any city in the State of 
New York. 

The incorporation of the city of Niagara Falls naturally 
followed the inauguration of the great electrical power develop- 
ment. The eyes of the civilized world were turned upon this 
locality as never before. People were flocking here to locate. 
There was great activity in real estate, and farms lying out several 
miles from the centers of the two villages were purchased and 
plotted. The community, in the matter of public improvements, 
must keep step with its own progress. Accordingly after some 
preliminary agitation, a committee of prominent citizens of both 
villages was organized which drafted the charter for the city. 

The first city election was held in April, 1892, and resulted 
in the choice of George W. Wright, Democrat, as the first Mayor 
of the new city. The other candidates were Gen. Benjamin 
Flagler, president of the Bank of Suspension Bridge, and for 
eight years United States Collector of Customs for the port of 
Suspension Bridge, the Republican nominee, and William H. 
Cornell, also a Republican who ran on an independent ticket and 
was president of the former Village of Suspension Bridge. The 
city was divided into four wards and the legislative body of the 
city was the common council composed of two aldermen from 
each of these wards. There are now thirteen wards in the city. 
The system of ward aldermen has obtained during most of the 
city's history, but at one time the charter was amended to pro- 
vide for aldermen-at-large. In 1911 the charter was again 
amended to provide for one alderman from each of thirteen 
wards, and the legislative body, as thus constituted, automati- 



94 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

cally passed out with the advent of commission government on 
January 1, 1916, which form of government provided for a 
Mayor and for four councilmen, with a city manager, which this 
commission appointed. Many other ojffieials and boards also 
passed out with the coming of the new regime. In the beginning 
the Mayor presided over the deliberations of the Common 
Council, but for quite a number of years a President of the 
Common Council was elected. The city charter was amended 
at nearly every session of the Legislature and became very much 
of a patchwork. The new system is one of seven forms suggested 
in an optional charter law passed by the Legislature in the interest 
of home rule, and it will not be necessary to appeal to the Legis- 
lature for a grant of power in the matter of the petty details of 
city government. 

It has been said that today is the "hearse that carries the 
dreams of yesterday to the cemetery." But many of the dreams 
of yesterday are realities in Niagara Falls today. Dreams are 
good things in many cases. The man without a vision, without 
some imagination misses some of the pleasures and profits of 
life. 

We dreamed of the harnessing of Niagara. Today we see the 
greatest electrical power development in the world. 

We dreamed of the brilliant illumination of our streets. 
Today we have the finest lighted thoroughfares in all America. 

We dreamed of the possible manifold uses of Niagara power. 
Today we have the electric furnace which produces a heat so 
intense as to stimulate some of the primal forces of Nature. It 
alone, has made possible the production of artificial gems; car- 
borundum, the hardest of manufactured substances, calcium 
carbide, which lights more than 200,000 houses, and artificial 
graphite. It produces the greatest quantity of aluminum made 
in the world, and has reduced its price from twelve dollars to 
twenty cents a pound. It has made possible the fixation of 
atmospheric nitrogen, and revolutionized the steel industry. 

The Niagara gorge was first spanned by a kite string, like 
a spider spinning his thread. It was followed by a cable upon 
which passengers rode across in a basket. Then came the sus- 
pension bridges, wonders of their time, while now the stately 
steel arches grace the canyon and form safe passageways for 
almost countless thousands of people. The process of bridge- 



THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS 95 

building was one of evolution, and each step represented a 
dream. 

The establishment of the New York State Reservation at 
Niagara and the making of Niagara's scenes free to all mankind 
forever was a dream of Thomas V. Welch and others, and it has 
come to a splendid realization. 

A little more than twenty-five years ago the first electric 
railroad car made its appearance, and Niagara Falls was one 
of the first communities to install an electric railroad system. 
About a quarter of a century ago horse cars traversed our main 
streets, and a few years ago Lincoln Beachey sailed in an aero- 
plane, with all the gracefulness of a bird, two thousand feet above 
the great cataracts, and then thrilled thousands of spectators 
with his daring dash down into the gorge, under the steel arch 
bridge, and then rose again into the air. Who that rode upon 
the horse cars on Falls Street twenty-five years ago would not 
have characterized Beachey 's flight as the wildest of dreams? 

Jacob F. Schoellkopf was thought to be a dreamer when he 
bought the hydraulic canal for $75,000. What man today does 
not wish that he could have such a dream. 

William B. Rankine, the struggling young lawyer, was a 
dreamer when he went to New York and secured the money 
to build the great plant of The Niagara Falls Power Company. 
That company now has about $25,000,000 invested in electrical 
development. 

Dr. Edward G. Acheson was a dreamer when he invented 
carborundum and graphite. The first carborundum was worth 
$432 per pound. At that price the fifteen million pounds of 
carborundum made in a year would be worth over five billion 
dollars, 

Charles M. Hall, the inventor of aluminum, was a dreamer. 
The original price of aluminum was twelve dollars per pound. 
The product of the Aluminum Company of America in a year 
is 12,000 tons or 24,000,000 pounds. At twelve dollars per pound 
this annual product would have been worth $168,000,000. At 
the present market price of twenty cents per pound, it was 
actually worth nearly $5,000,000. 

Captain Charles B. Gaskill was something of a dreamer 
when he built the flour mill which was the first industry to use 
power from the hydraulic canal about forty years ago, but, it is 



96 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

estimated that $75,000,000 is now invested in power develop- 
ment and manufacturing enterprises in Niagara Falls which 
today give employment to 12,000 people. 

Let us make a few comparisons between the Niagara Falls 
of yesterday and the Niagara Falls of today, the city of Niagara 
Falls when it was created twenty-four years ago and the city 
of Niagara Falls in 1916. Then we had 10,000 people; now we 
have 42,000 people. Then we had three schoolhouses ; now we 
have a dozen. Then we had no paving; now we have fifty-three 
miles of paving. Then we had a few scattering sewers; now we 
have eighty-three miles of sewering. Then we had an antiquated 
horse-car line; now we have over twenty miles of electric railroad 
tracks. Then we had some crude water-power; now we are 
developing over 200,000 electric horse-power within our boun- 
daries. The first annual budget of the city was $79,000; now 
it is nearly $800,000. In the early days of the city, building 
operations were slow and the aggregate small. In the past ten 
years, the building permits granted in this city have averaged 
$1,000,000 per year. Then, if we wanted to talk to anyone, we 
had to go and see the person; now there are over 5,000 tele- 
phones in the city. The comparisons might be continued indefin- 
itely to illustrate not only general progress, but special local 
progress in less than a quarter of a century. 

Only recently I visited St. John's Church in the city of Rich- 
mond, Va., which antedates the Revolution, and where Patrick 
Henry made his immortal speech in which he exclaimed: "Give 
me liberty or give me death." In that speech, which was heard 
around the world, he also said: "The only lamp that I have to 
guide my feet is the lamp of experience." The same light guides 
us today. Standing upon the summit of a quarter of a century 
of cityhood and surveying with justifiable pride our splendid 
achievements, contemplating the Niagara Falls of yesterday 
and of today, and what the highest work of creation and the 
greatest genius of man, working in harmony, have done for us, 
we can reach onlj^ one conclusion, and that is that the city of 
Niagara Falls is destined to take its place among the mighty com- 
munities of the earth, that on no fairer, stronger, more useful 
association of mankind "has e'er the sun shone," assembled at 
that place described by Father Hennepin in 1679 where "a vast 
and prodigious cadence of waters falls down after a surprising 



THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS 97 

and astonishing manner insonuich that the universe does not 
afford its parallel." 

We live in one of the most famous cities of the world, and 
we are citizens of the Imperial State of the greatest nation on the 
globe. At our thresholds is bounteous Nature's most magnifi- 
cent gift to mankind, the Cataracts of the Niagara. Past our 
doors runs a mighty flood drawn from the world's largest chain 
of fresh water lakes, and borne in billowy brilliance the eight 
hundred miles from Niagara to the sea. Viewed first by the 
primitive red man and later by the priest of the church, this 
sublime spectacle has filled with awe pilgrims from every country 
and every clime. 

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, filled with 
greater accomplishments than any other similar period in the 
world's history, man's genius, superb courage and boundless 
financial resources wrought the crowning scientific triumph of 
all time in the electrical harnessing of the most potential river 
on the globe. 

Now in the opening years of the twentieth century, the city 
of Niagara Falls, in a double sense, occupies a commanding 
place upon creation's map. Within its borders is the grandest 
of all Nature's scenes, and the fountain head of the electrical 
age. Four hundred miles away at the gateway of the new world, 
situated principally upon an island sold by native Americans 
for twenty -four dollars, is the metropolis of the western hemi- 
sphere, the most cosmopoHtan city in the world, within whose 
boundaries more wealth is stored than in any similar space, 
whose buildings rise to the greatest heights, whose inhabitants 
are transported in the bowels of terra firma, whose commerce 
is conveyed in ocean greyhounds to the ends of the earth, and 
whose water supply, transportation, building, financial and gen- 
eral human interest projects involve figures that stagger the 
imagination of the most optimistic. New York at the portals 
of the continent. Niagara Falls on the boundary of two nations, 
standing sentinel on the western border of the premier state of 
the Union. Who shall say them nay? 

Industrial concerns can locate a plant on each side of the 
river — one in the United States and one in Canada — and operate 
the two plants with one executive force beside being free from 
tariff complications. 



98 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Shipping facilities are unexcelled, with eight trunk lines of 
railroad entering here, and water transportation as well by the 
Niagara River, Great Lakes and Erie Canal. 

Within five hundred miles of Niagara Falls sixty per cent 
of the population of the United States and eighty per cent of the 
population of the Dominion of Canada resides. New York is 
less than five hundred miles away and Chicago about that dis- 
tance, while the leading Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal 
and Quebec are easily reached by lake and river, or by rail. 

Over one million freight cars are handled in the joint railroad 
yards of Niagara Falls annually. 

The value of the annual exports and imports from Niagara 
Falls has been shown by the report of the United States customs 
house, to be over $50,000,000. Over 1,000,000 passengers arrive 
from foreign territory annually. Over 7,000 passenger trains 
are inspected. Over 150,000 pieces of baggage are stamped by 
customs oflScials annually. Over 4,000 express cars are sealed 
for transportation through Canada annually. The number of 
freight cars inspected and sealed for transportation through 
Canada annually is 250,000. The number of entries at the 
Niagara Falls port has reached over 26,000 annually. 

The post-office receipts of the city of Niagara Falls for the 
year ending March 31st, 1915, were $156,636.28. 

The assessed valuation of the city of Niagara Falls for the 
year 1915 was $36,785,780, which is nearly one-half that of the 
entire county of Niagara. 

Niagara Falls has a new municipal water supply and filtration 
plant costing $1,000,000. 

The New York Central Railroad Company handles over 
10,000,000 pounds of package freight per month in Niagara 
Falls. 

The registration in the public schools in Niagara Falls was 
6,031 in 1914-15, as against 4,688 the preceding year. The total 
school population, both public and parochial, is estimated to be 
8,000. The city has a high school and twelve grade schools. 

Niagara Falls has three State banks, a trust company, and 
a savings bank, with total deposits of over $10,000,000, and a 
total capital and surplus of over $1,000,000. 

About 1,500,000 visitors from every part of the civilized 
world come annually to visit the wonders of scenic Niagara. 



THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS 99 

As an evidence of the change in business conditions in Niagara 
Falls from that of an almost exclusively tourist resort to an 
important industrial center, as well, it may be cited that in one 
year twenty-five manufacturing concerns reported to the Indus- 
trial Agent, the author of this work, an aggregate product valued 
at over $30,000,000, or an average of much over $1,000,000 
each. Nearly all of these concerns are exclusive in their lines. 
Two of thesehad a product of $5,000,000 each, one of $3,500,000, 
one of $2,000,000, one of nearly $2,000,000, two of $1,500,000, 
one of $800,000, one of nearly $750,000, and all except four of 
over $100,000. These concerns employed during the year in 
question nearly 8,000 people. The total value of the manufac- 
tured product of the industrial concerns of Niagara Falls in a 
year is estimated to be over $40,000,000. This flattering busi- 
ness situation has been brought about by the first and greatest 
electrical power development on earth. 

An evidence of the great business development of the city 
of Niagara Falls is the increase in the assessed valuation. In 
1892 when the city was formed, the asssessed valuation was about 
$8,000,000. Ten years later in 1901 it was $15,269,247. In 
1902 it was $16,950,025; in 1903, $17,709,880; in 1904, $18,587,- 
790; in 1905, $19,247,520; in 1906, $20,953,595; in 1907, 
$22,163,075; in 1908, $23,404,760; in 1909, $24,177,000; in 
1910, $25,780,000; in 1911, $30,175,020; in 1912, $32,403,935; 
in 1913, $35,012,997; and at this writing it is $36,785,780. 

In 1914 the production of abiasives here was 40,000,000 
pounds. The production will be increased on account of the 
construction of a new plant. It is estimated that over seventy- 
five per cent of the total production of abrasives in the country 
is at Niagara Falls. One of the new abrasive products here will 
be Naxos Emery. Emery derives its name from Cape Emeri, 
on the Island of Naxos, the largest of the Cyclades group off the 
coast of Greece. The principal sources of the world's supply 
are here, and Asia Minor, from which place the so-called Turkish 
ore is obtained. The production of emery on the Island of Naxos 
is under government control and the product in one year has been 
as high as 11,000 tons. The small production in other parts of 
the world is shown by a product in Canada in one year of 742 
tons and in India of 137 tons. 

Niagara Falls is the chief seat of the electro-chemical industry. 



100 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

and it has held this position from the beginning. Of the total 
value of products produced by the aid of electricity in 1909, 
New York reported $13,401,878, or 72.6 per cent, and over 
$11,000,000 worth of this product was made at Niagara Falls. 
Niagara Falls being centrally located, and having eight trunk 
lines of railroad, secures especially favorable freight rates. 

The varied products of Niagara Falls manufacturing institu- 
tions include: Aluminum, abrasives, salesbooks, flour and feed, 
graphite, wall paper, iron castings, electrodes, brick, brass cast- 
ings, barrels, paper boxes, chemicals, print paper, beer, silver- 
plated ware, frogs, switches, switchstands, shredded wheat 
biscuits and triscuits, toilet powder, calcium carbide, storage 
batteries for lighting and heating railway coaches and electric 
starters for automobiles, chewing gum, corsets, warm air fur- 
naces, hooks, eyes and fasteners, titanium alloy for steel rails, 
wire stitchers, electric switches, lightning arresters and printing 
presses, pea hullers, metal stamped goods, knit goods, pulp, 
boilers, hair cloth, searchlights, leather tire goods, carbon, ice, 
electricity, gas, weather strips, lastic air for automobile tires, 
paints, chloro benzole, automobile timers and telephone intensi- 
fiers, and varnishes and aviation materials. 

The leading manufacturing concerns in the city include: 
Allen & Hanbury Company (infants' foods); Aluminum Com- 
pany of America (three plants); American Salesbook Company; 
Carborundum Company; Castner Electrolytic Alkali Company; 
Cataract City Milling Company; Cataract Consumers Brewery; 
Cliff Paper Company; Central Machine Company (electric 
switches, etc); Chisholm-Scott Company (pea hullers); Defi- 
ance Paper Company (wall paper) ; Dobbie Foundry and Machine 
Company; Dupont Powder Company; Eagle Paint and Varnish 
Company; Electro Bleaching Gas Company; Electro Metallur- 
gical Company; Electrode Company of America; Francis 
Manufacturing Company (hooks and eyes); Frontier Brick 
Works; Frontier Brass Company; International Cooperage 
Company; General Abrasive Company; Hinds' Paper Box 
Works; Hooker Electro-Chemical Company; Hj'draulic Power 
Company; Mitchell Builders' Supply Company, Inc.; Inter- 
national Paper Company; International Acheson Graphite 
Company; Leather Tire Goods Company; Lockport Paper 
Company; National Electrolytic Company; Niagara Alkali 



VIEW FROM GOAT ISLAND 
Looking toward tho American shore before the establishment of the Niagara Reservation, July 15th, 1885, showing 

|)aper niill on Bath, now Green Island 




VIKW FIU)M .SAME VANTAGE POINT ON GOAT ISLAND 
Sliowina conditions as they are toduy 




—r— ' TT" ■- - •■ • r ' ■rYrtmmima 



THE SHORE OF THE AMERICAN RAPIDS ABOVE THE GOAT ISLAND BRIDGE 
As it looked before the State removed the buildings on the Niagara Reservation 




THE SHORE OF THE AMERICAN RAPIDS ABOVE THE GOAT ISLAND HKIUGE 

A? it looks today 



THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS 101 

Company; Niagara Falls Brewing Company; Niagara Electro- 
Chemical Company; Niagara Falls Metal Stamping Works; 
Niagara Falls Milling Company; Niagara Falls Furnace Com- 
pany; Niagara Searchlight Company; Niagara Foundry Com- 
pany; Niagara Insul-Bake Specialty Company; Niagara Falls 
Hair Cloth Company; Niagara Falls Power Company; Niagara 
Carbon Company: Niagara River Manufacturing Company; 
Niagara Steel Finishing Company; Norton Company (abrasives); 
Oldbury Electro-chemical Company; Peace Metal Weather 
Strip Company; Power City Boiler Works; Pettebone Cataract 
Paper Company; Philpott and Leuppie Company (special 
machinery); Phosphorus Compounds Company; Ramapo Iron 
Works; William A. Rogers Ltd. (silver-plated ware); Shredded 
Wheat Company; Sutherland-Innes Cooperage Company; Spi- 
rella Company (corsets); Spiro Powder Company; Salom Elec- 
tric Storage Battery Company; Titanium Alloy Manufac- 
turing Company; McGarigle Machine Company; Lastic Air 
Company; Lehmann Cork Helmet Company; Union Carbide 
Company; United States Light and Heating Company; Visor 
Knitting Company; W. J. White Chicle Company. 

Our present greatness was largely the result of the century- 
old vision and foundation-laying of Augustus Porter and the 
latter day splendid fulfillment led by William B. Rankine and 
Jacob F. Schoellkopf. These men of talent and of energy, who 
guided the thunder waters to the realization of man's great 
purpose and who have recruited the ranks of the unreplying dead, 
were as the pathfinders of a continent marking the trail across 
arid plains and scaling the rugged mountain-sides ten thousand 
feet or more. In the great work which these men did, they 
exemplified these lines of the old gospel hymn : 

"Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadow, 

Fearing neither clouds nor winter's chilling breeze; 
By and by the harvest, and the labor ended, 

We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves." 

And we who remain need not hesitate to lay our hands to the 
task that lies before us, for Eliot has said that "The blessed 
work of helping the world forward happily does not wait to be 
done by perfect men." And Spurgeon said that "Many men 
owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties." 



102 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Many of us are attached by tender ties to village days, but the 
great majority of our citizenship is chiefly concerned with the 
industrious and prosperous present and the expanding future 
which spreads its brilliant vista before us. 

Twenty -four years a city ! And these were years full of accom- 
plishment. Within this brief span, summer resort villages have 
become a great manufacturing center and yet Nature's shrine 
is unimpaired. First, the dense forest and the primitive savage, 
then the crude early settlement and devastating war; later, 
the noble work of the sturdy pioneer; now, the massive power 
houses reared of native stone within whose walls giant yet almost 
silent 5,000, 10,000, and 12,000 horse-power dynamos whirl 
ceaselessly, converting Niagara's flood, which has poured down 
for centuries unutilized, into that subtle force that turns countless 
wheels of industry, enters largely into transportation, changes 
darkness into light, and is a potent element in almost every sphere 
of human activity. 

What was the village of Niagara Falls when the city was 
organized was first called Schlosser, and afterwards Manchester, 
after the manufacturing city by that name in England, because 
it was early thought that the power-producing capabilities of the 
Niagara River would make this an industrial community. The 
generation living at that time, however, did not see the develop- 
ment. The village of Niagara Falls was incorporated in 1848. 
What was the village of Suspension Bridge when the city was 
formed was first called Bellevue. In 1854 the territory was 
incorporated as a village and called Niagara City. For some 
thirty years it was named Suspension Bridge after the great 
structure that spanned the gorge there. Following the incor- 
poration of the city, the name was gradually dropped in connec- 
tion with various public and business institutions, but it was not 
until 1915 that the bank of that name made a change in its title. 

The name "Niagara" first appeared in Coronelli's map pub- 
lished in Paris in 1688. It is said to be the oldest of local geo- 
graphical terms coming down from the aborigines. This name is 
also remarkable for the number of ways that there have been of 
spelling it. There are thirty-nine other Niagara names, as 
follows : lagara, lagare, Jagara, Jagare, Niagaro, Niagra, Niagro, 
Ockinagaro, Ochiagara, Ochjara, Octjagara, Ochinagero, Onea- 
gerah, Oneigra, Oneygra, Oniagara, Ongagerae, Oniagorah, 



THE CITY OF NIAGARA FALLS 103 

Oniagre, Oniagro, Onjagara, Onjagera, Onjagora, Onjagore, 
Onjagoro, Onjagra, Onygaro, Onyagara, Ongajare, Ongagaro, 
Onyagoro, Onyagra, Onyagarr, Onyagro, Oneygra, Oneagoragb, 
Yagero, Yangree. 

Regarding the significance of the word "Niagara," there 
could not be a more eloquent and comprehensive manner of 
presenting it than is found in one of Hon. Peter A. Porter's his- 
torical articles, where he says: 

"To the lover of Nature it recalls one of the scenic wonders 
of earth, 'for the day when one's eyes first rest upon the cataracts 
marks an epoch in the life of any man.* 

"To the traveler, it represents the one spot above all others 
in America that he wants to visit. 

"To the geologist, it unfolds a vista of thousands, yes, perhaps 
millions, of bygone years. 

"To the student of anthropology it suggests the question of 
the ancestry of the red race, that ages before a white man reached 
its shores, roamed this continent, and knew of the existence of 
the waterfall. 

"To the historian, it tells of wars, inter-tribal and inter- 
national, waged hereabouts, on whose outcomes hinged the 
destinies of North America. 

"To the economist, it represents the greatest natural store- 
house of power on the globe. 

"To the electrician it recalls the greatest development of that 
force in one locality on this continent. 

"To the ecclesiastic it brings up memories of some of the earli- 
est but eventually unsuccessful missions of the Roman Catholic 
Church among the Indians. 

"To the manufacturer it speaks of one of the greatest and the 
most rapidly enlarging of the industrial centres of America. 

"To the engineer, whether civil, electrical or hydraulic, it 
recalls many notable achievements in the various branches of 
that science. 

"No other single spot on earth is so universally known as 
Niagara; no other location recalls more and more varied recol- 
lections." 



CHAPTER IX 



AN IDEAL MANUFACTURING PLANT 

The Shredded Wheat Company Makes Annually at Niagara Falls 

More Than 1,000,000 Cases of Cereal Food Which has a 

World-wide Market 



WHEN the above building is completed, it will be of a size 
sufficient to include the entire National Cash Register 
Company's plant, and be unsurpassed by any factory 
building in the world." 

Thus spake Edward A. Deeds, chief engineer in the construc- 
tion of the plant of the Shredded Wheat Company, on December 
14, 1900, when it was announced that this great concern would 
locate in Niagara Falls. And Mr. Deeds knew whereof he spoke 
because he was connected with the National Cash Register Com- 
pany. Since the completion of the factory it has often been said 
that "One might as well see Rome without seeing St. Peters, 
as to see Niagara Falls without visiting 'The Home of Shredded 
Wheat.' " And it has been further said that, "Here was a build- 
ing whose builders had the daring to invade the choicest residence 
neighborhood in the town to plant an industry far away from the 
smoke and dust of factory and railroad. This search for cleanli- 
ness and beauty, as foolish as it might seem to the hard-headed 
man of finance, naturally constitutes one of the attractive features 
of the plant and gives it a unique place among food manufacturing 
concerns of the world." 

And 100,000 visitors from all parts of the civilized world go 
through this factory every year and view every process in the 
making of this cereal food. This is one of the few manufacturing 
establishments that invites the fullest inspection and furnishes 
guides to show visitors through. 

(104) 



AN IDEAL MANUFACTURING PLANT 105 

The concern was first incorporated under the laws of the 
State of New York as the Natural Food Company, with a capital 
of $10,000,000. Later the corporate name was changed to The 
Shredded Wheat Company. There is $1,250,000 of preferred 
stock, and $8,750,000 of common stock. The common stock 
first sold as low as 8c. on the dollar, and it has recently been sold 
above par. Last year the company built another plant in Nia- 
gara Falls half the size of the parent plant, and it is now building 
a fine plant in Oakland, California. Its annual consumption of 
wheat for several years has exceeded 700,000 bushels, and it buys 
wheat in 100,000 bushel lots from the far west as well as taking 
Niagara County and Western New York wheat that is offered. 
The production of wheat in this section is, however, a mere drop 
in the bucket compared with the company's needs. The com- 
pany's product is sold all over North and South America, and in 
Europe. 

This great industry came here from Worcester, Mass., where 
it had made a good start. Negotiations for its location in Niagara 
Falls were conducted by WilHam B. Rankine, vice-president of 
The Niagara Falls Power Company, and when they were well 
advanced a delegation of Niagara Falls citizens was taken to 
Worcester in a private car to inspect the plant there. In connec- 
tion with the Worcester plant there was also a school of domestic 
science, known as "The Oread Institute." Its purpose was to 
teach young women how to demonstrate the process and uses 
of this food. It was originally planned to bring that institute 
to Niagara Falls, but that part of the plan was not carried out. 

Henry D. Perky was inventor of the shredded whole wheat 
biscuit, and he also invented the machine to make it. It had 
been on the market five years when the plant was located in 
Niagara Falls. The plant at Worcester was using 700 bushels 
of wheat per day, at the time the new plant was located here. 
Associated with Mr. Perky in the company that was organized 
under the laws of the State of New Y^ork, Mr. Perky being the 
president and treasurer, were: the late William B. Rankine, 
vice-president of the Niagara Falls Power Company and its 
allied interests; Edward A. Deeds, who was the mechanical 
engineer and who was connected with the National Cash Register 
Company of Dayton, Ohio, and Ira C. Hubbell, president of 
the Locomotive Appliance Company of Chicago. 



106 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Mr. Perky was a creditably conspicuous man in American 
commercial and educational affairs. He was a man of marked 
individuality and sincerity of purpose, and this second charac- 
teristic he could not have possessed if he had not been a philan- 
thropist. His idea was that, a man to be at his best must have 
a mission in life, and must be self-appointed to this mission. 
Several years previous to the location of the plant at Niagara 
Falls, Mr. Perky reached the conclusion that mankind in general 
was far from enjoying the physical advantages that all things in 
Nature clearly indicate are his by natural law. In searching for 
a correct and explicit explanation of this condition, he reached 
the conclusion that the physical ills of man were due to an attempt 
to improve on the chemistry of Nature, the outgrowth of a false, 
but quite general education for which the educational institu- 
tions are responsible. He was, however, aided in a superlative 
degree by a practical demonstration of his then new and untried 
theory, and in that demonstration he had himself for a subject. 
Mr. Perky was a native of Ohio; he studied law and was admitted 
to the bar in Nebraska. When only twenty-five years old, he 
was elected to the Nebraska State Senate. His health failed, 
and he moved to Colorado, and, among other things, Mr. Perky 
projected the holding of a national mining and industrial exposi- 
tion at Denver. Later, he became an attorney for the Union 
Pacific Railroad. The Colorado climate, however, failed to 
improve his health, and he finally conceived the idea of eating 
whole, unground wheat, first boiling the grain to make it palatable 
and easier of mastication. This did improve his health, but it 
was a laborious task to prepare the food, and he invented a 
machine for so separating the fibres of whole wheat grain that not 
a particle of their nutritive principle should be lost. This was 
the shredded machine later used in the great plant here. Mr. 
Perky was restored to complete health by eating this food. He 
claimed that there was that in it which nourished every atom 
of his body. He claimed that ninety per cent of school children 
had defective teeth, and that ninety-five per cent of Americans 
who engage in business fail, simply because thay are not what 
they should be physically. 

A little more than five years previous to the location of the 
Shredded Wheat Company's plant in Niagara Falls, there was 
formed in Colorado a corporation called the Cereal Machine 



AN IDEAL MANUFACTURING PLANT 107 

Company, with a capitalization of $1,400,000. Later, the com- 
pany moved to Worcester, Mass., and began the manufacture 
of shredded whole wheat biscuit. The controlling hand in the 
Worcester enterprise was, after awhile, Mr. Perky, but the ven- 
ture with even him at the head met with diflBculties of almost 
every nature. The product was a new and untried one; the 
machinery for its production was likewise new. The people as a 
mass had to be taught how to prepare the biscuit, and this in 
itself was a task of such prodigious proportions that wellnigh 
every one declared that it could not be accomplished. Virtually 
all Worcester said this, but Mr. Perky said it could be done, and 
one morning Worcester awoke and found the task accomplished. 
Besides establishing the Oread Institute at W^orcester, Mr. 
Perky lectured in many cities upon the subject of proper food. 

The property purchased by the company has, a frontage of 
800 feet on the south side of Buffalo Avenue, and 500 feet on the 
north side, and was purchased outright with all the buildings on 
it, many of which were afterward removed. Several of the finest 
residences in the city were torn down. The first shovelful of 
earth was turned Saturday, December 15, 1900. At that time, 
this was the biggest project in the industrial development of 
Niagara Falls since the inauguration of the construction work of 
The Niagara Falls Power Companj'. The building was then and 
is now one of the model factories of the world. The estimated 
cost was over a half million dollars, and the final cost over a 
million dollars. 

Briefly stated, the plant is 542 feet long, sixty-six and one- 
half feet wide, six stories high, and a marvel of mechanical and 
architectural triumph, and contains every feature of sanitation, 
every facility for the practical conduct of business, and every 
detail that the experience of the past teaches must be supplied 
to produce the ideal industrial plant. 

As soon as the company purchased the property here, the 
Common Council of the city formally closed Fourth Street, south 
of Buffalo Avenue, to public traffic. It was planned to complete 
the building within five months, and, in order to accomplish 
this, work was begun at three different places, the workmen 
completing as they proceeded. The scheme was to follow the 
contractor with such rapidity that when he had half the roof 
laid, some of the machinery was set up ready for operation; 



108 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

and when the contractor left the building, every piece of machin- 
ery was installed and in operation. 

The buildings of the company constitute the most ideal plant 
for the purpose in the country, and because of the unique process 
and product, are unparalleled in the world. The original idea 
of these buildings, as well as the process and product, is credited 
to Henry D. Perky, who was a recognized authority upon foods. 
The factory covers an area of 53,616 square feet. The total 
area owned by the company is 65,101 square feet or about four 
and a half millions of cubic feet. 

In an editorial, the then editor of the Cataract- Journal, the 
author of this book, on Saturday, December 15, 1900, following 
the paper's announcement the day before of the location of the 
great plant, said: 

*'Great is the industrial city of Niagara Falls! As has well 
been said : 'Electricity will be the king of the twentieth century, 
and Niagara Falls its eternal throne!' The lusty young city of 
Niagara Falls, less than nine years old, has attracted world-wide 
attention during that time because of the marvelous and stu- 
pendous development of the water power and its conversion into 
electrical energy for all of the uses that the ingenuity of man can 
devise. Celebrated throughout the globe for the wonderful things 
that nature has wrought here, Niagara Falls has taken on a new 
phase in the past ten years. It has become an industrial city, 
and catering to the tourists from all over the world, who come 
here every year, has become secondary to the industrial interests 
that have followed the great power development. 

"Many great industries have located here, and their location 
and the character and extent of their product have attracted wide 
attention as well as being the means of inducing many people to 
become residents of this city. During the past few years espe- 
cially has Niagara Falls received a great deal of attention from 
the press and the business men of other cities for the reason that 
the census of 1900 shows that our growth in population has 
exceeded in percentage of increase that of any other locality in 
the United States. That is the practical, substantial and indis- 
putable result of the harnessing of the Falls of Niagara and the 
conversion of their great and ceaseless power to the purposes of 
man. It is true that when the city was incorporated, some terri- 
tory was taken in, but that is true of every city showing a large 




VIEW FROM THE OLD GOAT ISLAND BRIDGE 
As the American shore looked when the State took charge 




VIEW FROM THE CENTER OF THE NEW GOAT ISLAND BRIDGE 
As the American shore looks now 




MEW OF THE AMEHICAX UAl'JD.S lAUTIlEK I'V THE lUVER 
Looking toward the American Falls and showing the Old Goat Island Bridge 



mu 




VIEW OF THE AMEIUCAN RAPIDS 
Looking down the river, showing New Goat Island Bridge and Canadian side 



AN IDEAL MANUFACTURING PLANT 109 

increase in population in the last decade. But even taking in 
all of the people living in 1890 in the territory now embraced 
in the city of Niagara Falls, the increase in population in ten years 
is 100 per cent. 

"There is no boom, in the commonly accepted meaning of 
the word, about it. The growth has been steady, substantial, 
and built upon a foundation of rock. There can be no backward 
movement. The future of Niagara Falls as a great industrial 
city is assured beyond the shadow of a doubt. The year which is 
about to open will witness wonderful things here. We believe 
that it will be the greatest in our history. 

* * :|c * :|c 

"The capital stock of the Natural Food Company is $10,000,- 
000. These figures are so large as to be almost staggering, but 
in this age are far from impossible. It cost the company $12,500 
to file its incorporation papers with the Secretary of State." 

Since the plant was completed it has been written: "There 
are factories and factories! But the Shredded WTieat factory is 
unique. There is nothing like it in this or any other country. 
It is the dream of a dreamer, fully carried out. This dreamer, 
who invented shredded wheat biscuit, said he would build the 
cleanest, finest, most hygienic factory in the world in which to 
make the cleanest and purest cereal food in the world, and he 
succeeded in making good his promise." 

The building contains lavatories costing $100,000, and an 
auditorium with a seating capacity of 1000 persons. Welfare 
work is one of the conspicuous activities of the company. With 
unstinted generosity, the company provides opportunities for 
mental, manual, artistic and social development. In erecting 
the building, 3000 tons of steel and 200 tons of marble were used. 
There are 844 windows in the building which contain 30,000 lights 
of glass. 

The annual production of the company now far exceeds one 
million cases of shredded wheat. As each case of shredded wheat 
contains 432 shredded wheat biscuits, and as each of these bis- 
cuits is about four inches long, it has been estimated that if 
a year's production of biscuits were placed end to end it would 
more than reach around the world. 

After the great plant of the Shredded 'SMieat Company had 
been erected and put into operation in Niagara Falls, Henry D. 



♦8 



110 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Perky retired as its active head, and in the fullness of his years 
was gathered to his fathers. Fortunately, the direction of the 
company's business affairs had fallen into capable hands, and 
under wise, conservative and progressive management of all its 
departments, the sales of the product have increased from year to 
year until it is now recognized as one of the great industrial 
successes of our time — a monument to high ideals in business 
administration and in humane treatment of employees. 



CHAPTER X 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF DIVERSION 

How the Agitation Alleging Impending Destruction of the Scenic 
Grandeur of Niagara Falls Began — The Burton Law — The 
Opinion of Secretary of War William H. Taft 



CLOSELY associated with the great question of the con- 
servation of natural resources, the most important phase 
of which is the use of water for the development of elec- 
trical power, has been the agitation against the diversion of the 
water of rivers and streams, upon the plea that the natural 
scenery would be destroyed or visibly affected. As the first and 
greatest hydro-electrical power development upon the globe 
is at Niagara Falls, and the cataracts are the greatest of all the 
natural wonders of the world, the interest in the diversion ques- 
tion has centered here. As has been shown in the historical 
sketches in this book, many years intervened between the time 
when power development was first suggested and the time 
when it was undertaken upon a large scale, and great efforts 
were made to get capital interested. The beginning of the work 
was universally welcomed, and many millions of dollars were 
invested in the power development enterprises before the diver- 
sion question received any general attention. In fact, the power 
development enterprises on the American side of the river had 
been successfully consummated before the cry was raised that 
the scenic grandeur of the Falls of Niagara was seriously threat- 
ened and the statement made that the great natural spectacle 
might be wholly destroyed unless the strong arm of the govern- 
ment of the United States and that of Great Britain in conjunc- 
tion should intervene to prevent it. 

The volume of water taken from the upper river and returned 

(111) 



112 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

to the lower river by the American companies is wholly insigni- 
ficant and has no appreciable effect upon the flow over the 
American Falls, but the success of the American companies 
inspired the Canadian government to grant three separate 
charters to power companies to be located on the Canadian 
shore immediately above the Falls, and in about the year 1903 
these companies began to construct their plants. 

This agitation was initiated by an organization known as 
the American Civic Association, whose activities were directed 
by and largely confined to its president, J. Horace McFarland, 
of Harrisburg, Pa. Upon the official and membership roll of 
the organization appear the names of many prominent men 
and women, but Mr. McFarland himself wrote magazine arti- 
cles, delivered lectures, sent letters and literature all over the 
country, and appeared at congressional and legislative hearings 
in the interest of the alarmist propaganda that he had instigated. 
The articles and sketches appearing in leading periodicals were 
either grossly exaggerated or wholly without foundation, and 
thousands of communications were sent to individuals through- 
out the country requesting them to telegraph or send letters to 
members of Congress in the interest of "saving the Falls of 
Niagara" from destruction at the hands of the power companies. 

It was demonstrated by this propaganda that the human 
mind is easily aroused in the interests of preserving the scenic 
grandeur of a natural wonder like Niagara Falls, and sentimental 
people not acquainted with the facts were greatly prejudiced 
by statements and pictures giving a wholly ridiculous and exag- 
gerated view, rather than actual conditions, of the Falls. As a 
matter of fact, the people living in proximity to the Niagara River, 
who are therefore the most jealous guardians of its scenic features, 
know that from the time that the diversion of its waters for the 
purpose of developing electrical power commenced to the present 
day there has been no appreciable difference in the flow over 
the Falls that the human eye can detect. The American power 
companies co-operated, some years ago, with the engineer of the 
United States Lake Survey, and the power plants were shut 
down for several hours during which tests were made, and the 
gauges showed that the diversion lowered the American Falls 
about three-eighths of an inch, and the Horseshoe Falls about 
three inches at their center. The eye could not detect such 




THE AMERICAN FALI-S IN SUMMER 




, ,< , 






V* 







THE AMERICAN FALLS BELOW PROSPECT POINT IN THE CiRIP OF WINTER 
Showing the ice mound whieh is sometimes one hundred feet high 




Covyrighi, 1907, by B. H . Norris 

THE NIGHT ILLUMINATION OF THE FALLS IN 1907 




yUEEN VICTORIA PARK ON THE CANADA SIDE 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF DIVERSION 113 

diversion, nor could it detect a materially larger diversion than 
that. 

Upon this subject, however, great volumes of reports have 
been printed and a great mass of testimony produced. The 
Congress of the United States has been dealing with the matter 
now for over ten years, and the treaty-making power of the 
governments of the United States and Great Britain has been 
utilized in connection with it. The direct assumption of juris- 
diction over the Niagara River by the Federal government was 
based upon the ground, regarded by many as far-fetched, that 
navigation of the Niagara River and the Great Lakes, or the 
international defenses, might be affected by the power diversion, 
and it grew out of a message by President Roosevelt to the first 
session of the fifty-ninth Congress, dated March 27, 1906, trans- 
mitting a report to Congress made by the International Water- 
ways Commission regarding the preservation of the Falls of 
Niagara. The report of the International Waterways Commis- 
sion was requested by a joint resolution passed by Congress 
March 15, 1906, directing the Commission to report to Congress 
at an "early date what action is, in their judgment, necessary 
and desirable to prevent further deflection of the waters flowing 
over Niagara Falls." 

The commission in its report found that in 1896 the Niagara 
Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company had been 
authorized by the State of New York to take, draw, use and 
lease, and sell to others to use, the waters of the Niagara River 
for domestic, sanitary and manufacturing purposes, and to de- 
velop power therefrom for its own use and to lease and sell to 
others to use for manufacturing, heating, lighting and other 
purposes, and that the amount of water to be diverted was to 
be all that could be drawn through a canal one hundred feet 
wide and fourteen feet deep. The amount of water thus to be 
diverted was estimated to be about 9,500 cubic feet per second. 

The Niagara Falls Power Company was authorized, in 1886 by 
the State of New York, to take enough water to generate 200,000 
horse-power, computed to be 17,200 cubic feet per second. 

The Canadian Niagara Power Company, in 1892, and by 
subsequent acts of legislation of the province of Ontario, was 
given authority to develop 110,000 horse-power, estimated to 
be 9,500 cubic feet of water per second. 



114 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

The Ontario Power Company, in 1902, was authorized to 
construct works, according to certain plans, with a capacity of 
180,000 horse-power, which would require 12,000 cubic feet of 
water per second. 

The Electrical Development Company of Ontario was in- 
corporated in 1903, and given authority to develop 125,000 
horse-power, requiring 11,200 cubic feet of water per second. 
The life of these charters runs from fifty to one hundred and 
thirty years. 

In addition to the foregoing grants the New York Legislature, 
between the years 1886 and 1894, granted six charters to take 
water from the Niagara River above the Falls. Several of these 
charters have since expired. The companies now in operation 
and the amounts of water they could take under their original 
charters are, as follows: Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and 
Manufacturing Company, 9,500 cubic feet per second; the 
Niagara Falls Power Company, 17,200 cubic feet per second; 
Canadian Niagara Power Company, 9,500 cubic feet per second; 
Ontario Power Company, 12,000 cubic feet per second; Elec- 
trical Development Company, 11,200 cubic feet per second, 
and the International Railway Company, 1,500 cubic feet per 
second, a total of 60,900 cubic feet per second. It will be seen 
by its provisions later given that the British- American treaty 
permits the diversion of 36,000 cubic feet per second upon the 
Canadian side of the river alone, and 20,000 cubic feet upon the 
American side, a total of 56,000 cubic feet, or only 4,900 cubic 
feet less than the total of the original grant. 

The International Waterways Commission recommended that 
diversion for power purposes be limited, as follows: On the 
American side to 18,500 cubic feet per second; on the Canadian 
side to 36,000 cubic feet per second. 

Following the report of the International Waterways Com- 
mission, the so-called Burton bill was enacted which became a 
law on June 29, 1906. Under its provisions the diversion upon 
the American side of the river was cut down to 15,600 cubic 
feet of water per second, and the Secretary of War of the United 
States was given authority to grant revocable permits to the 
power companies. 

William H. Taft, afterwards President of the United States, 
was then Secretary of War, and after applications for permits 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF DIVERSION 115 

had been made to him, he came to Niagara Falls and gave the 
interested parties a hearing at the International Hotel. On 
January 18, 1907, Mr. Taft's opinion was given, which was 
the official settlement of the matter for the time being. This 
document contains the essential features of the Burton Law 
and so many other facts of momentous and historic interest, 
relating to the largest question of its kind in the United States 
and the world, that it is included herew^ith : 

In the matter of applications under the Burton Act for the 
issue of permits to divert water for power from the Niagara 
Falls on the American side and to transmit electrical current, 
developed from water power on the Canadian side, into the 
United States. 

Opinion by the Secretary of War 

Ten or more applications have been filed in this Department 
for the issuing of permits by the Secretary of War, part of them 
for the diversion of water for power from Niagara Falls on the 
American side, and the remainder for the transmission of elec- 
trical current, developed from water diverted from the Falls on 
the Canadian side, into the United States. These applications 
are filed under what is known as the Burton Act, passed June 29, 
1906, and entitled "An Act for the control and regulation of the 
waters of the Niagara River, for the preservation of Niagara 
Falls, and for other purposes." 

The first section of the Act forbids the diversion of water 
from the Niagara River, or its tributaries in the State of New 
York, except with the consent of the Secretary of War, as author- 
ized in Section 2, with a proviso, the meaning of which is not 
here important. 

The second, fourth and fifth sections of the Act, I set out in 
full, as follows: 

"Sec. 2. That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized 
to grant permits for the diversion of water in the United States 
from said Niagara River or its tributaries for the creation of power 
to individuals, companies, or corporations wliich are now actu- 
ally producing power from the waters of said river, or its tribu- 
taries, in the State of New York, or from the Erie Canal; also 
permits for the transmission of power from the Dominion of 



116 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Canada into the United States, to companies legally authorized 
therefor, both for diversion and transmission, as hereinafter 
stated, but permits for diversion shall be issued only to the 
individuals, companies, or corporations as aforesaid, and only 
to the amount now actually in use or contracted to be used in 
factories the buildings for which are now in process of construc- 
tion, not exceeding to any one individual, company or corpora- 
tion as aforesaid, a maximum amount of 8,600 cubic feet per 
second, and not exceeding to all individuals, companies or 
corporations as aforesaid an aggregate amount of 15,600 cubic 
feet per second; but no revocable permits shall be issued by the 
said Secretary under the provisions hereafter set forth for the 
diversion of additional amounts of water from the said river 
or its tributaries until the approximate amount for which per- 
mits may be issued as above, to wit, 15,600 cubic feet per second, 
shall for a period of not less than six months have been diverted 
from the waters of said river or its tributaries, in the State of 
New York; provided, that the said Secretary, subject to the 
provisions of section five of this Act, under the limitations 
relating to time above set forth, is hereby authorized to grant 
revocable permits, from time to time, to such individuals, com- 
panies or corporations, or their assigns, for the diversion of addi- 
tional amounts of water from the said river or its tributaries 
to such amount, if any, as in connection with the amount di- 
verted on the Canadian side, shall not injure or interfere with 
the navigable capacity of said river, or its integrity and proper 
volume as a boundary stream, or the scenic grandeur of Niagara 
Falls; and that the quantity of electrical power which may 
by permits be allowed to be transmitted from the Dominion of 
Canada into the United States, shall be 160,000 horse-power: 
Provided further. That the said Secretary, subject to the pro- 
visions of section five of this Act, may issue revocable permits 
for the transmission of additional electrical power so generated 
in Canada, but in no event shall the amount included in such 
permits, together with the said 160,000 horse-power and the 
amount generated and used in Canada, exceed 350,000 horse- 
power: Provided always, That the provisions herein permitting 
diversions and fixing the aggregate horse-power herein permitted 
to be transmitted into the United States, as aforesaid, are in- 
tended as a limitation on the authority of the Secretary of War, 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF DIVERSION 117 

and shall in no wise be construed as a direction to said Secretary 
to issue permits, and the Secretary of War shall make regulations 
preventing or limiting the diversion of water and the admission 
of electrical power as herein stated; and the permits for the 
transmission of electrical power issued by the Secretary of War 
may specify the persons, companies, or corporations by whom 
the same shall be transmitted, and the persons, companies, or 
corporations to whom the same shall be delivered. 

''Sec. 4. That the President of the United States is respect- 
fully requested to open negotiations with the Government of 
Great Britain for the purpose of effectually providing, by suit- 
able treaty with said government, for such regulation and con- 
trol of the waters of Niagara River and its tributaries as will 
preserve the scenic grandeur of Niagara Falls and of the Rapids 
in said river. 

"Sec. 5. That the provisions of this Act shall remain in 
force for three years from and after date of its passage, at the 
expiration of which time all permits granted hereunder by the 
Secretary of War shall terminate unless sooner revoked, and the 
Secretary of W'ar is hereby authorized to revoke any or all 
permits granted by him by authority of this Act, and nothing 
herein contained shall be held to confirm, establish, or confer 
any rights heretofore claimed or exercised in the diversion of 
water or the transmission of power." 

The third section provides a punishment for violations of 
the Act, and the method of enforcing it. 

The plain purpose of the Act is to restrict, as far as lies in the 
power of the Congress, the diversion of the water from the 
Niagara River above the Falls in such a way as to reduce the 
volume of the water going over the Falls, and the plan of Con- 
gress in so doing is to effect this purpose by directly prohibiting 
the diversion of water on the American side, and by taking away 
the motive for diverting water on the Canadian side, by denying 
a market for electrical power generated on the Canadian side in 
the United States. The prohibition in the Act is not absolute, 
however. It is clear that Congress wished, so far as it could, 
to accomplish its purpose with as little sacrifice of the pecuniary 
interests of those who had actually made investments, on the 
faith of the continued unrestricted diversion of water on the 
American side, or the continued unrestricted transmission of 



118 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

electrical power from Canada into the United States, as was 
consistent with the preservation of the integrity and volume of 
the Niagara River passing over the Falls. 

The International Waterways Commission, a body appointed 
under a statute of the United States to confer with a similar body 
appointed under a statute of Canada, to make recommendations 
with reference to the control and government of the waters of 
the Great Lakes and the valley of the St. Lawrence, have looked 
into the question of the amount of water which could be with- 
drawn on the American and the Canadian side of the Niagara 
River without substantial injury to the cataract as one of the 
great natural beauties of the world, and after a most careful 
examination they have reported, recognizing fully the necessity 
of presei*ving intact the scenic grandeur of the Niagara Falls 
that it would be wise to restrict diversion to 28,600 cubic feet 
a second on the American side of the Niagara River (this to 
include 10,000 cubic feet for the Chicago Drainage Canal), and 
to restrict the diversion on the Canadian side to 36,000 cubic 
feet a second. This report was in answer to a resolution of 
Congress calling for an expression of opinion, and thereupon 
Congress provided that the Secretary of War should be per- 
mitted, but not required, to issue permits in the first instance 
for the diversion of 15,600 cubic feet on the American side of 
Niagara River and in the Erie Canal, to persons or corporations 
actually engaged in the diversion of water and its use for power 
on that side, for six months, with leave to increase the same 
after six months shall have shown the effect of such diversions, 
if it will not affect the scenic grandeur of the Falls. Congress 
provided in the Act, with reference to the power generated on 
the Canadian side, that the Secretary of War should be author- 
ized, but not required, to issue permits for the transmission of 
160,000 horse-power from the Canadian side to the markets of 
the United States, and then provided that he might issue revoc- 
able permits for the transmission of a larger amount, provided 
that the total amount transmitted, together with that generated 
and used on the Canadian side, should not exceed 350,000 horse- 
power, or the equivalent of the diversion from the Falls of about 
28,000 cubic feet of water. 

I have already said that the object of the Act is to preserve 
Niagara Falls. It is curious, however, that this purpose as a 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF DIVERSION 119 

limitation upon the granting of permits by the Secretary of 
War is only specifically recited in reference to his granting of 
permits for diversion of additional amounts of water over 15,600 
cubic feet on the American side, which are to be limited to 
"such amount, if any, as in connection with the amount diverted 
from the Canadian side, shall not interfere with the navigable 
capacity of said river or its integrity and proper volume as a 
boundary stream, or the scenic grandeur of Niagara Falls." 
This peculiarity in the Act is significant of the tentative opinion 
of Congress that 15,600 cubic feet of water might be diverted on 
the American side and 160,000 electrical horse-power might be 
transmitted from the Canadian side without substantial diminu- 
tion of the scenic grandeur of the Falls. Undoubtedly Congress 
left it to the Secretary to reduce this total thus indicated in the 
matter of permits, if he differed with this intimation of the 
Congressional view. Acting, however, upon the same evidence 
which Congress had, and upon the additional statement made to 
me at the hearing by Dr. John M. Clark, state geologist of 
New York, who seems to have been one of those engaged from 
the beginning in the whole movement for the preservation of 
Niagara Falls, and who has given close scientific attention to 
the matter, I have reached the conclusion that with the diversion 
of 15,600 cubic feet on the American side, and the transmission 
of 160,000 horse-power from the Canadian side, the scenic 
grandeur of the Falls will not be affected substantially or per- 
ceptibly to the eye. 

With respect to the American Falls, this is an increase of 
but 2,500 cubic feet a second of what is now being diverted, 
and has been diverted for many years, and has not affected the 
Falls as a scenic wonder. 

With respect to the Canadian side, the water is drawn from 
the river in such a way as not to affect the American Falls at all, 
because the point from which it is drawn is considerably below 
the level of the water at the point where the waters separate 
above Goat Island, and the Waterways Commission and Dr. 
Clark agree that the taking of 13,000 cubic feet from the Cana- 
dian side will not in any way affect or reduce the water going 
over the American Falls. The water going over the Falls on the 
Canadian side of Goat Island is about five times the volume of 
that which goes over the American Falls, or, counting the total 



120 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

as 220,000 cubic feet a second, the volume of the Horseshoe Falls 
would be about 180,000 cubic feet. If the amount withdrawn 
on the Canada side for Canadian use were 5,000 cubic feet a 
second, which it is not likely to be during the three years' life 
of these permits, the total to be withdrawn would not exceed 
ten per cent of the volume of the stream, and considering the 
immense quantity which goes over the Horseshoe Falls, the 
diminution would not be perceptible to the eye. 

I have given full hearing to the American Civic Association 
and to others interested in the preservation of the Falls, but 
nothing has been brought forward that really has any evidential 
force, to affect the soundness of these conclusions. 

By my direction. Captain Charles W. Kutz, of the Corps 
of Engineers, United States Army, made an investigation into 
the circumstances of each corporation applying for permits for 
diversion or transmission. The subjects upon which Captain 
Kutz was ordered to report are described in my memorandum 
opinion of July 14, 1906, as follows: 

"It is necessary that the Secretary of War should know, 
before final action is taken by him, in the matter of permits 
for transmission, the capital already invested in the Canadian 
companies, the degree of completion of the plant, the amount 
likely to be sold on the Canadian side of the current, the time 
when the plant shall be ready for operation; the amount now 
actually produced; the amount now actually transmitted to the 
United States; the amount invested not only in the production 
of the current, but in the plant and machinery for its trans- 
mission, including the poles and wires, and all the details, and 
also the capital invested by the American companies who are to 
receive in the first instance the current thus produced; the form 
in which that capital is, and the contracts into which they have 
entered both with the Canadian companies and with the com- 
panies or persons to whom they expect to sell the current; the 
date of these contracts, and all the circumstances tending to show 
the extent of the injury that a refusal to grant the permits re- 
quested would cause to the investment of capital, together with the 
question of when the contracts were made upon which the claims 
for the use of current are based, with a view to determining the 
good faith with which these contracts were entered into; and 
whether the threatened passage of law induced their making." 




CAVE OF THE WINDS IN SUMMER 




C'AVl-: OF rilK WINDS IN WINTER 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF DIVERSION 121 

Captain Kutz has made a report both with respect to the 
companies applying for permits on the American side and those 
applying for permits on the Canadian side, and I wish to express 
my great satisfaction at the thoroughness and spirit of judicial 
fairness with which Captain Kutz and those who are associated 
with him have done their work. 

Taking up first the applications for permits for diversion 
on the American side, there is no room for discussion or differ- 
ence. The Niagara Falls Power Company is now using about 
8,400 cubic feet of water a second and producing about 76,630 
horse-power. There is some question as to the necessity of using 
some water for sluicing. This must be obtained from the 8,600 
cubic feet permitted, and the use of the water for other purposes 
when sluicing is being done must be diminished. The Niagara 
Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company is now 
using 4,000 cubic second feet, and has had under construction 
for a period long antedating the Burton Act a plant arranged 
to divert 2,500 cubic second feet and furnish 36,000 horse-power 
to the Pittsburgh Reduction and Mining Company. A permit 
will, therefore, issue to the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and 
Manufacturing Company for the diversion of 6,500 cubic second 
feet, and the same rule must obtain as to sluicing as already 
stated. 

As the object of the Act is to preserve the scenic beauty of 
Niagara Falls, I conceive it to be within my power to impose 
conditions upon the granting of these permits, compliance with 
which will remedy the unsightly appearance that is given the 
American side of the canyon just below the Falls on the Ameri- 
can side where the tunnel of the Niagara Falls Power Company 
discharges, and where the works of the Hydraulic Company are 
placed. 

The representative of the American Civic Association has 
properly described the effect upon the sightseer of the view 
toward the side of the canyon to be that of looking into the back- 
yard of a house negligently kept. For the purpose of aiding me 
in determining what ought to be done to remove this eyesore, 
including the appearance of the buildings at the top, I shall 
appoint a committee consisting of Charles F. McKim, Frank D. 
Millet and F. L. Olmsted, to advise me what changes at an 
expense not out of proportion to the extent of the investment 



122 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

can be made which will put the side of the canyon at this point 
from bottom to top in natural harmony with the Falls and the 
other surroundings, and will conceal as far as possible the raw 
commercial aspect that now offends the eye. This consideration 
has been kept in view in the construction of works on the Cana- 
dian side and in the buildings of the Niagara Falls Power Com- 
pany above the Falls. There is no reason why similar care should 
not be enforced here. 

Water is being withdrawn from the Erie Canal at the lake 
level for water-power purposes, and applications have been 
made for permits authorizing this. Not more than 400 cubic 
feet is thus used in the original draught of water that is not 
returned to the canal in such a way as not to lower the level 
of the lake. The water is used over and over again. It seems to 
me that the permit might very well be granted to the first user. 
As the water is taken from the canal, which is State property, 
and the interest and jurisdiction of the Federal government 
grew out of the indirect affect upon the level of the lake, the 
permit should recite that this does not confer any right upon 
a consumer of the water to take the water from the canal without 
authority and subject to the conditions imposed by the canal 
authorities, but that it is intended to operate, and its operation 
is limited to confer, so far as the Federal government is con- 
cerned, and the Secretary of War is authorized, the right to take 
the water and to claim immunity from any prosecution or legal 
objection under the fifth section of the Burton Act. I shall 
refer the form of the permit with these directions to the Inter- 
national Waterways Commission to prepare it. 

I come now to the question of the permits to be granted to the 
applicants for the right to transmit electrical current from plants 
generating it on the Canadian side from the Niagara River. 

The applicants are four: The International Railway Com- 
pany, w^hich applies for a permit for 8,000 horse-power; the 
Niagara, Lockport and Ontario Company, speaking in its own 
interest and that of the Ontario Power Company, for 90,000 
horse-power; the Electric Transmission Company, speaking for 
itself and the Electrical Development Company, for 62,500 
horse-power; and the Niagara Falls Power Company, speaking 
for the Canadian Niagara Power Company, for 121,500 horse- 
power. 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF DIVERSION 123 

Captain Kutz recommended that the International Railway 
Company be not granted any permit, but that out of the 160,000 
horse-power, 2,500 be reserved in order that it might be granted 
to the International Railway Company when that company 
shall have obtained permission from the Commissioners of the 
Queen Victoria Niagara Park to transmit the current through 
the park. The question of the company's right is pending before 
the Dominion government. Some years prior to 1901, this 
Railway Company, which owns all the railways in Buffalo and 
neighboring cities and towns, bought a Canadian electric railway 
running from Chippewa to Queenston, together with a bridge 
just below the Falls, and one at Lewiston, so as to make a loop 
with the railways on the American side. For this Canadian 
railway the applicant paid $1,333,000. It had a small power 
plant located in the Queen Victoria Park, and under its charter 
it could only use power generated therefrom to run the Canadian 
railway. In 1901 this charter was amended so as to permit the 
use of electricity for its railroads on both sides, and the plant 
has been developed by the expenditure of $265,000, so that now 
it can generate 3,600 horse-power. The effective head is sixty- 
eight feet, so that it takes about twice as much water to develop 
this power per horse as in the great plants I shall hereafter de- 
scribe. It is quite clear that the original investment in the 
purchase of the railway was not made to secure the transmission 
of electric power across the boundary, because there was no power 
to do so under the charter. The subsequent investment of 
$265,000 can perhaps be said to have been made with this in 
view. Captain Kutz recommended that 2,500 horse-power 
be reserved for this company. The Commissioners of Queen 
Victoria Park refused to approve the plans of this company 
for a transmitting line to the boundary, so that it cannot now 
use the electricity except on the Canadian line, where it uses 
1,200 horse-power. It generates now 3,600 horse-power. The 
permit of 2,500 horse-power would effect a saving of $30,000 a 
year. The investment for transmission to the United States 
does not exceed $265,000. All that can be reasonably expected 
from the outlay under the circumstances is not to exceed seven 
per cent on the remainder, or about $18,000. The permit should 
not, therefore, issue for more than three-fifths of 2,500 horse- 
power, or 1,500 horse-power. The fact that it may generate 



124 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

8,000 horse-power by the expenditure of $150,000 I do not regard 
as important, and I carry out the purpose of Congress in taking 
away any motive for making such an investment. The amount 
of 1,500 horse-power will be reserved to await the decision of 
the Dominion government in the controversy between the 
International Railway Company and the Commissioners of 
Queen Victoria Park. This leaves out of the 160,000 horse-power 
158,500 horse-power to be distributed to the other three com- 
panies. Let us consider their financial status and prospects. 

The Ontario Power Company was incorporated in 1887, and 
there was no limitation to its charter upon the amount of power 
which it might generate. Its plans, however, were subject to 
the approval of the Commissioners of the Queen Victoria Park, 
and plans for its works have been approved for 180,000 horse- 
power. The head works for this amount have been constructed 
and located above the first line of rapids. It was necessary 
under the plans to construct three conduits through the park. 
Only one of these conduits has been constructed, and it has a 
capacity to supply six generating units, three for 10,000 horse- 
power each and three of 12,000 each, or 66,000 horse-power in 
all. The cost to complete the six units and thus produce 66,000 
horse-power is $6,500,000. The amount required to complete 
the plant to the projected size, producing 180,000 horse-power 
would be $6,500,000 additional; and the amount required to 
produce 120,000 horse-power would be about $3,200,000. In 
addition to this, the Ontario Transmission Company, an auxiliary 
company to the main power company, has expended about 
$1,000,000 in transmission, right of way and plant, and the 
power company has entered into contracts for the furnishing 
of 6,000 horse-power with an option by the purchasers to increase 
this to 13,000 for Canadian consumption. The Niagara, Lock- 
port and Ontario Company of New York is affiliated with the 
Ontario Power Company, and it has constructed a very elabo- 
rate transmission plant from the international boundary to 
Lockport, from Lockport to Buffalo, and from Lockport by 
way of Rochester to Syracuse. It has expended $2,785,000, 
of which $1,200,000 was for right-of-way and $1,062,000 for 
construction. Its capacity for transmission from the Inter- 
national boundary to Lockport is 60,000 horse-power, and there 
is the same capacity from Lockport to Buffalo; from Lockport 















''JFf\ ' 


' ^ mHRNik 




^^H^^^k 


s; 




"v 


>S|^ 




wri 






■ * _^k ; 


^^ 




" \' 'i>' Jfj 


o 
w 

G 




^HH^^^^^^'^^^^B 




f 


L; 


It '' J 


)^H 








li' 


I^V 


y 




^ 


^jk 1 ^^« 


■fei 


■ 


y. 






1 






y. 
y, 

■ji 

y. 

>i 
H 

<5 

>^ 
O 

i^ 

Q 
H 

2 

s 

« 

Eh 
Vj 

«%j 

a 










S 


















_ 









THE GREAT QT ESTION OF DIVERSION 125 

to Syracuse it has a capacity of 10,000 horse-power, and a second 
line of greater capacity is under construction. It claims that its 
investment will amount, when its transmission lines are com- 
pleted, to upwards of $4,000,000, and certainly the expenditure 
will reach $3,000,000. 

The Electrical Development Company received a charter, 
5 Edward VII, and was authorized to take 125,000 horse-power, 
or 8,000 cubic feet a second. The head works, wheelpit and tail 
race have been completed for eleven units of 12,500 horse- 
power each. The power house has been completed for seven 
units, but the machinery installed and contracted for is only 
for four units. The completion of the four units will involve 
the expenditure of $6,300,000, and it may be increased to eleven 
units, or 132,000 horse-power, by the expenditure of $1,576,000. 
This company has erected a transmission plant to Toronto, 
which will convey 20,000 horse-power, and that will involve an 
expenditure when completed of $2,610,000. The demands for 
Canadian consumption which this company will satisfy are 
about 30,000 horse-power. There is an electrical transmission 
company of American origin and charter aflSliated with this 
company, which has expended about $246,000 and has a relation 
to what is called the Nicholl Syndicate, which owns interests 
in gas and power companies and in an electric railway from Buffalo 
to Rochester, which is under construction. It has franchises 
in its own name in seven towns and cities, but the enterprise is 
largely inchoate and the investment is in prospect rather than 
actual. 

The Canadian Niagara Power Company was organized in 
1892 by the same persons who were interested in the Niagara 
Falls Power Company, the pioneer of electric power companies 
on the American side. It is not limited in the quantity of power 
which it is to use and its plans are subject to the approval of the 
Commissioners of the Queen's Park. Plans have been approved 
for 120,000 horse-power, which means eleven units of 11,000 
horse-power with one of these as a "spare," which makes its 
normal capacity 110,000. Its head works, wheel pits and tail 
race tunnel are completed for the full development. Five units 
have already been installed and its power house and transformer 
have been completed for five units. It has cost $5,550,000, 
and to make eleven units would cost $1,250,000 more. It has 

♦9 



126 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

an undergound conduit connecting the Canadian plant with the 
American plant of the Niagara Falls Power Company, with a 
capacity of 128,000 horse-power transmission, with cables in it 
of the capacity of 32,000. It has a separate transmission line 
sixteen miles along the Niagara River to Fort Erie, with towers 
to carry the lines across the river, all of which transmission 
plant cost $434,000. It sells in Canada 1,340 horse-power, with 
an option to purchasers to take 4,237 horse-power. 

From what has been said it will be seen that the Ontario 
Power Company has now invested or under contract $6,500,000, 
which will produce 66,000 horse-power; that it and its aflfiliated 
companies have expended $1,000,000 for transmission in Canada, 
and about $3,000,000 for transmission in the United States. 

That the Electrical Development Company has invested 
$6,300,000, which will produce 50,000 horse-power; and a 
transmission line in Canada of $2,500,000, and perhaps $300,000 
in transmission lines in the United States. 

That the Canadian Niagara Power Company has invested 
$5,350,000, which will produce 55,000 horse-power, and $500,000 
in transmission lines in the United States. 

Captain Kutz recommended the allowance to the Ontario 
Power Company of a permit for 60,000 horse-power; to the 
Canadian Niagara Falls Power Company the same amount, 
60,000 horse-power; to the Electrical Development Company, 
37,500. 

I think the Ontario Company is entitled to a larger allow- 
ance than the other two companies, because it generates 11,000 
horse-power more than the Canadian Niagara Power Company, 
and 16,000 horse-power more than the Electrical Development 
Company. It has invested $200,000 more in its power plant 
than the Electrical Development Company and $1,200,000 
more than the Canadian Niagara Power Company. It uses for 
the production of one unit of horse-power perhaps fifteen per 
cent less of water than the other two companies. But more than 
all, it has expended $3,000,000 in a transmission line from the 
international boundary to Rochester, Syracuse, Lockport and 
Buffalo. This investment is almost wholly dependent for use 
and profit on the importation of electricity from Canada. Cap- 
tain Kutz reports that 60,000 horse-power will enable the com- 
pany to secure a reasonable return on the transmission invest- 



THE GREAT QUESTION OF DIVERSION 127 

ment after paying a proper amount for the power at the 
boundary. This would leave to be divided between the other 
two companies 99,000 horse-power, and objection is made to 
this discrimination against them in favor of the Ontario Power 
Company because their plants are so arranged that by the 
expenditure of a million and a quarter the Niagara Company 
could increase its output to 110,000 horse-power and by the 
expenditure of a million and a half the Development Company 
could increase its output to 130,000 horse-power, whereas the 
Ontario Company must expend $6,500,000 more to reach its 
full capacity of 180,000 horse-power, or about $3,200,000 to 
reach a capacity of 130,000 horse-power. While this circumstance 
is entitled to some weight against proportioning the allowances 
to the capital actually expended on the power plants or the 
horse-power now produced from the present installations, still 
I think the considerations already suggested, especially the 
special expenditure for long-distance transmission, really out- 
weighs everything else in requiring that, if possible, a sufficient 
amount be allowed to pay a reasonable profit on that invest- 
ment which is wholly dependent on transmission. 

Coming now to the division between the Niagara Falls 
Company and the Development Company, the conclusion is 
not so easy. The Development Company has invested about 
three-quarters of a million more on its power plant than the 
Niagara Company, but under its present installation it cannot 
produce as much horse-power by 5,000. It has expended $2,500,- 
000 to carry horse-power to Toronto and has contracts for 
10,000 more. The Canadian business does not pay as well as 
the American business, especially that of the Niagara Company, 
which is quite profitable under its existing contracts. Consid- 
ering these contracts, it seems to me that with its slight cost 
of transmission and the advantageous situation that it enjoys 
in respect to its affiliated American Company, an allowance of 
52,500 horse-power for the Niagara Company will enable it to 
fulfill all its probable demands at a good profit. The works 
across the river produce 76,300 horse-power, and adding 52,500 
horse-power makes 128,800 horse-power. The American com- 
pany now earns nine per cent on its stock of $4,000,000 and 
interest on a bonded indebtedness of $9,000,000. It has con- 
tracts requiring a maximum of 102,000 horse-power, but the call 



128 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

on its capacity has never exceeded 85,000 horse-power because 
the calls do not coincide. On the capital invested, there is no 
likelihood that the Niagara Company will suffer a loss. It 
will not make as much as it would have made had it been allowed 
to transmit its full capacity after building the contemplated 
additions to its installation, but the act only intended to save 
the investors from losses on the plant actually invested, not to 
compensate them for prospective gain. 

This leaves for the Electrical Development Company 46,500 
horse-power to transmit to the United States after producing 
30,000 horse-power and transmitting it to Toronto and elsewhere. 
This would justify the company in increasing the number of 
units in its installation if it could secure transmission to the 
United States. It is probable that the amount is not enough 
to justify the elaborate outlay required for transmission to 
American customers, and this reduces the value of the permit; 
but I cannot think that it will not be able to arrange for the 
disposition of transmissible current at the boundary at such 
figures as to be profitable, even if the amount it makes per 
horse-power be less than that which the two American companies 
realize, because of their greater facility for reaching customers, 
the one through the Rochester transmission plant and the other 
through the American Niagara Company's plant and good will. 
Under this arrangement and allotment the Canadian Company 
becomes the only one which, assuming a demand for its American 
delivery, will be justified in increasing the capacity of its power 
plant by installing more units. The demand in Canada for the 
product of the Ontario and Niagara companies may grow some, 
but not very much, so that they are likely to be confined to their 
present installation. 

Before closing I ought to notice a claim of the Niagara Com- 
pany that it has by its charter a preferential right over the other 
two companies, so that it ought to be allowed its full 110,000 
horse-power for transmission before the other two companies 
receive permits to transmit any current at all. The preference 
claimed is really only a priority in taking water from the river, 
and cannot be reasonably extended to apply to rights to transmit 
current when there is no lack of water for all. 

The Niagara Falls Power Company, and its Canadian other 
self ask that the two permits to them shall contain a provision 



THE GREAT QT ESTION OF DIVERSION 129 

by which in case of a reduction of the amount of water diverted 
on the American side below the permitted limit, a corresponding 
increase beyond the limit permitted on the Canadian side may 
be authorized. This privilege must be denied. The American 
diversion and the Canadian transmission must be kept separate 
in the permits and should be absolute and not variable. It 
would form an uncomfortable precedent in other cases. 

It has been asserted by persons who profess to have infor- 
mation that the three companies here seeking permits are looking 
forward to an amalgamation of interests or a combination for 
the purpose of keeping up the prices of electrical power by 
avoiding competition that will deny to the public the benefit 
it is entitled to enjoy from the natural water power that these 
companies use at comparatively small benefit to any one of the 
governments which authorize its use. This is denied by the 
applicants. Just what effect the existence of such a combination 
ought to have to require a revocation or modification of these 
permits is a matter of grave doubt; but should evidence in 
proper form of the existence of such a combination be brought 
to me as a ground for the modification of the action now taken, 
it will be given a careful consideration. 

The order for permits will therefore be for 

The International Railway Company 1,500 

The Ontario Power Company 60,000 

The Canadian-Niagara Falls Power Company 52,500 

The Electrical Development Company 46,000 

The Chief of Engineers and Captain Kutz will prepare the 
permits after consultation with counsel for the respective com- 
panies. An order should also be entered detailing Captain 
Kutz to report a plan for the supervision of the operation of these 
companies under the permits, with a view to secure strict com- 
pliance with their terms. 

(Signed) Wm. H. Taft, 

Secretary of War. 
January 18, 1907. 



CHAPTER XI 



THE BRITISH-AMERICAN TREATY 

Text of the Important Historic Document Executed by Secretary 

of State Elihu Root and Ambassador James Bryce, Relating 

to the Niagara Diversion Question. New York 

State Lays Claim to Jurisdiction 



THE Burton Law was limited to three years from June 29, 
1906, the date of its approval, and pending negotiations 
for a treaty. 

On March 3, 1909, the treaty not having been proclaimed, 
the law was continued in force by the second session of the Six- 
tieth Congress for two years, and again on August 22, 1911, it 
was extended until March 1, 1912, when it was a third time 
extended by resolution to March 4, 1913, at which date it finally 
lapsed, and various measures have since been introduced into 
and considered by the Congress. 

The Burton Law requested the President of the United States 
to open negotiations with the government of Great Britain for 
the purpose of effectually providing a suitable treaty for the regu- 
lation and control of the waters of Niagara River and its tribu- 
taries, as would preserve the scenic beauty of Niagara Falls. 
Acting upon the request expressed in the Burton Law, the Presi- 
dent opened negotiations with Great Britain for the purpose 
of defining by treaty their respective rights in the Niagara River 
as a boundary stream, and for other purposes. This treaty was 
proclaimed May 13, 1910, to remain in force five years and there- 
after until terminated by twelve months' notice, given by either 
of the high contracting parties to the other. 

The Niagara power question has been considered for years 
by the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, and the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and Congress 

(130) 



THE BRITISH-AMERICAN TREATY 131 

has given many hearings upon the subject, which have been 
attended by representatives of the power companies, users of 
power, holders of power-development charters, the American 
Civic Association, public officials of Niagara Falls and of the 
State of New York, the claim of state jurisdiction over the waters 
of Niagara River on this side of the international boundary 
having been strongly presented in the past two or three years. 
The attitude of the committee of Congress is stated to be that 
it believes that the jurisdiction of the Federal government over 
the Niagara River, once asserted in conjunction with the Domin- 
ion of Canada under treaty relations, is unquestionable and para- 
mount, that it is the duty of the Federal government to assume 
complete and permanent jurisdiction of the boundary waters 
between the two countries, subject only to the incidental rights 
of the riparian owners when these rights do not conflict with such 
federal authority. The Congressional Committee assumes that 
under the constitutional power to take jurisdiction for naviga- 
tion and commercial purposes, such authority is inclusive of the 
further jurisdictional rights because the Niagara River is a 
boundary stream and navigable, and a means of national defense. 
The statement is made that involved as Niagara is, with the 
Great Lakes and other boundary streams which, together, con- 
stitute more than 1,000 miles of these boundary waters, it is 
difficult to discern why exclusive control of these boundary 
waters ought not to exist in the Federal government. 

In the past few years, the state of New York has laid 
claim to control of and proprietary interest in the waters of 
the Niagara River on this side of the boundary line and made 
the contention that further diversion should run to the State of 
New York. 

Governor John A. Dix first discussed this matter in a message, 
and at that time William Sulzer, a representative in Congress 
from this state, was chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs of the lower house which is dealing with the question. 

Afterwards, Mr. Sulzer became governor, and was succeeded 
by Martin H. Glynn who, with Attorney-General Thomas 
Carmody, went to Washington and made an argument before the 
Committee in favor of the New York position. During the admin- 
istration of Charles S. Whitman who succeeded Governor Glynn, 
a committee of the Legislature, headed by Senator George F. 



132 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Thompson of the Niagara and Orleans County district, made a 
thorough investigation of water power development. The Com- 
mittee held hearings in Niagara Falls and New York, and also 
made trips to Sault Ste Marie and down the St. Lawrence River. 
A great mass of information was collected, and the attitude of the 
committee was distinctly in favor of a larger diversion, owing 
to the undoubted demand for more electrical power and the 
convincing proof that a much larger diversion could take place 
without appreciably affecting the scenic grandeur of the Falls or 
River. 

Now pending in the first session of the Sixty-fourth Congress 
and known as H. R. 3038, is a measure for the control and regu- 
lation of the waters of Niagara River similar to that reported by 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Sixty-third Congress. 
Those opposed to the contention of the federal authorities say 
that the proposed legislation is unwise and that the course of 
federal conduct in reference to the power situation at Niagara 
has been unfair to American interests. 

When the British- American treaty was enacted, representa- 
tions were made to the State Department by each of the power 
companies at Niagara Falls, N. Y., requesting that in the making 
of this treaty sufficient diversion be allowed upon the American 
side to enable the plants of the American companies to complete 
their proposed development. It was also called to the attention 
of the State Department that the effect of our inelastic maximum 
limit of diversion was actually to reduce the use and diversion of 
water to a considerably less amount than the maximum fixed. 
For instance, it was pointed out that if the companies were to be 
subjected to heavy penalties for a diversion for an instant of time 
in excess of either respective allotted amounts, and the ascertain- 
ment of such diversion was to be based upon measurement of 
output of electric current by them or their tenant customers, 
the permittees must necessarily keep their actual diversion con- 
siderably below the allotted amounts, since one of their tenant 
customers could by suddenly increased use lift the apparent 
diversion beyond that permitted by the Federal government; 
that some elasticity in this regard was important either (a) by a 
system of daily averages, or (6) by permitting an apparent excess 
in use for a short period of time, and until such apparent excess 
use could be reduced below the amount allotted has been fre- 



THE BRITISH-AMERICAN TREATY 133 

quently suggested, and the language of the treaty in this respect 
was as follows : "not exceeding in the aggregate a daily diversion 
at the rate of 20,000 cubic feet per second." Notwithstanding 
the treaty provisions allowing a diversion of 20,000 cubic feet 
per second on the American side, no increased diversion has been 
permitted by the Federal government, although about seven 
years have elapsed since the treaty was ratified. It is also pointed 
out that the water used by all of the power companies on the 
American side of the river is drawn from the Grass Island pool, 
so-called, and the American fall is little affected by such with- 
drawal, inasmuch as only five per cent of the water of the river 
passes over that fall. In other words, the total flow of the river 
is estimated at 222,000 cubic feet per second and therefore only 
11,000 cubic feet of water per second passes over the American 
fall. It is also pointed out that at any rate, the British-American 
treaty has been ratified and it provides that 36,000 cubic feet of 
water per second can be diverted on the Canadian side as against 
20,000 cubic feet on the American side, which amount is restricted 
by the War Department to 15,600 cubic feet per second. It is 
further pointed out that the eflFect of such restriction by the 
American authorities is to force manufacturing interests into 
Canada that would otherwise locate in the United States, and 
further, that the water is used with greater eflSciency on the 
American side. 

The great European war has emphasized the tremendous 
necessity for a far greater use of the water powers of America. 
Power is necessary for the manufacture of munitions of war, 
whether to be sent abroad or for preparedness in America, and 
great quantities of electric power are required for the making 
of chemicals and other articles and substances once made in 
Europe and now made, and to be made, in the United States. 
In this connection it is well known that most of the power 
developed and used at Niagara Falls is utilized in electro-chemical 
processes, nearly all of which are of much importance in the 
manufacture of munitions of war. To mention a few and their 
uses, the following are named: Aluminum, which is necessary 
for steel manufacture, motor cars and trucks, aviation materials 
and ammonal; carbide, the company's plant being available for 
use in the manufacture of nitric acid and ammonia, and actually 
used to produce calcium carbide for lighting, acetylene gas, the 



134 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

product of carbide, being used to cut the battleship Maine in two 
before it was raised from Havana Harbor, to weld together 
the broken shaft of a battleship in thirty-six hours, where it 
would take six weeks to do it by the old method, and to also 
illuminate coal mines and beacon lights at sea; potash, used in 
the manufacture of explosives; caustic soda, which is convertible 
into picric acid for use in explosives; ferro-silicon and titanium 
alloys, which are vital necessities in armor plate, tool steel 
and gun materials; abrasives, necessary in the manufacture of 
armament, shrapnel and projectiles, and chloro benzole, which 
enters into the manufacture of gun powder. 

Besides the reasons already advanced for a further diversion 
of the waters of the Niagara River on the American side, for 
the development of power, especially when the international 
treaty permits an additional 4,400 cubic feet per second of water 
to be taken, and most people who are familiar with the situation 
are convinced that a much larger diversion could be made without 
appreciably eflfecting the scenic grandeur of the Cataracts or 
Rapids of the Niagara, it is stated that, while the possibility of 
a war between the United States and Great Britain may be elimi- 
nated, it is quite clear that the Dominion government would have 
the legal authority at any time to cut off exportation of power 
from Canada, and in fact, at the present time such exportation 
is actually made, only under annual licenses. There is no method 
by which the United States government can commandeer, in 
case of necessity, a power development in Canada, and yet the 
greater power development at Niagara Falls has now been made 
in Canada, and the Federal government will not even yet permit 
the 20,000 cubic feet per second, specified in the treaty, to be used 
on the American side, but still limits the American diversion to 
15,600 cubic feet, the amount specified in the Burton Act 
which, upon its face, was a temporary makeshift as will be seen 
by reference to sections four and five of that act, as printed in 
Secretary Taft's opinion elsewhere in this book. 

Upon the subject of the alleged menace to the scenic grandeur 
of Niagara Falls by the power developments. Major Charles 
Keller, of the United States Corps of Engineers, who has made 
numerous trips to Niagara Falls and who made an investigation as 
an engineer, said in a report to the War Department: 

"The ^navigable capacity' of the Niagara River is dependent 



THE BRITISH-AMERICAN TREATY 135 

upon its depth and velocity, and these are measurable elements. 
Its 'integrity and proper volume as a boundary stream' are 
questions of fact which can be determined from measurements 
of discharge and from suitable surveys. The 'scenic grandeur 
of Niagara Falls appears, on the other hand, to be dependent 
upon opinion and sentiment, and it seems almost absurd to at- 
tempt to demonstrate, by physical measurements of any kind, 
what the effect of the above diversion, or of any diversion, will 
be upon the Falls, considered solely as a spectacle." 

Upon the same subject and from the great mass of material 
in the government reports can be quoted this statement by 
Francis C. Shenehon, principal assistant engineer, who is also 
dean of engineering of the University of Minnesota: "It is only 
fair to state, because of some erroneous views held concerning 
the injury already wrought on the Falls by diversions, that during 
the decade, 1899 to 1908, for the months of June to October, 
inclusive, the Falls have had a fullness of volume and consequent 
grandeur barely less than that of the prior decade, 1889 to 1898; 
and this is because the surplus waters actually tributary to the 
Niagara River have been a little greater in the latter decade than 
in the preceding, offsetting all the diversions above the head of the 
River and practically compensating those at the Falls." And 
Mr. Shenehon further says that, "In the latter decade the Ameri- 
can Fall has had a greater flow than in the former decade." 

Those who are opposed to federal regulation and in favor of 
the State of New York having jurisdiction over the waters of the 
Niagara River on the American side, say that the proposed legis- 
lation by Congress is specifically objectionable, upon the follow- 
ing grounds : 

1. It is an effort by the Federal government to exercise those 
sovereign and proprietary rights in respect to water powers that 
belong by law and by right to the state, and particularly an effort 
to invade the sovereign rights of the State of New York. This 
view has been expressed and elaborated upon by the attorney- 
general of the state on various occasions, reference being particu- 
larly had to the statement of the Honorable Thomas Carmody, 
on Tuesday, January 23, 1912, before the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, as well as to the minority report of Mr. Levy in the Sixty- 
second Congress in respect of H. R. 28674, report 1488, in which 
the opinion is expressed that the Federal government has no con- 



136 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

trol over the Niagara River except for the purposes of navigation 
and national defense. A reference to the authorities recited in 
Mr. Levy's report is of much interest. 

2. The proposed legislation might have the effect of placing a 
cloud upon the legal title and rights of the power companies and 
disturb their security holders who have invested their money upon 
the faith and credit of state legislation and adjudicated rights. 

3. The proposed legislation may have for its ultimate purpose 
the injury or destruction of the property of the existing companies 
under the pretense and guise of protecting federal interests; 
to wit, navigation and defense which are in no wise threatened. 

4. The proposed legislation still limits the diversion on the 
American side of the river to 15,600 cubic feet per second, not- 
withstanding that the treaty admits of a diversion of 20,000 
cubic feet per second. 

5. The proposed legislation limits the diversion on the Ameri- 
can side to the maximum, instead of using the language of the 
treaty; to wit, "the aggregate daily diversion at the rate of 
20,000 cubic feet per second." 

6. The proposed legislation is an attempt of the Federal 
government to embark in works of power construction, rate 
making, and a control of intra-state property in a manner neither 
heretofore attempted, justified by the theory of the Federal con- 
stitution, nor likely in any manner to be beneficial to the people. 

7. The penalties proposed by the legislation are excessive. 
These are the two sides of the case presented, the Federal and 

the state. The question of the effect of these diversions upon 
the scenic grandeur of the Niagara River has been discussed and 
considered at length, and the treaty between the two nations 
which is the highest expression of their judgment on this subject, 
is to the effect that diversions to the amount of 56,000 cubic feet 
of water per second, or twenty -five per cent of the total flow of 
the Niagara River, would not injuriously affect its scenic grandeur. 
It is obvious that it can make little difference upon the eye of the 
spectator whether the depth of the water at the crest of the Falls 
is eleven feet or nine feet. It is set forth that a fair and unbiased 
view of those who have given the matter consideration is that 
there has been no apparent diminution in the grandeur of the 
Falls as a spectacle, and that so far as the matter in respect of 
which the Federal government is interested: to wit, injury to 



THE BRITISH-AMERICAN TREATY 137 

navigation and danger to national defenses, the diversions allowed 
under the treaty would not have any appreciable effect. 

Great benefits have come to mankind from the power develop- 
ment already installed at Niagara Falls, where a large body of 
ever-flowing water may be utilized in power development under 
as favorable circumstances as are known to civilized man. The 
great advantages which have come through the utilization of 
these waters, in the lighting of towns, villages and cities at 
moderate rates; in the manufacture of products necessary and 
beneficial for the use of mankind, the marketing of which without 
cheap continuous power of Niagara would be impossible, must 
appeal to the rational minded, and it is a mere truism to say, "it 
was never intended in the economy of an all-wise Providence 
that while men's backs were bowed in labor the great potential 
energy of the waters of the Falls of Niagara should flow 
unused to the sea." 

It would seem that a wise and intelligent view of the Congress 
of the United States would lead to legislation to protect and 
recognize the worth of the courageous and far-sighted men and 
women who have contributed their time, energy and brains, 
as well as their savings, to the development of the great work at 
Niagara Falls. Dependent upon the preservation of these waters 
are hundreds of millions of capital, and the comfort and livelihood 
of hundreds of thousands of persons. The short-sighted policy 
of the American government has now resulted in a power famine 
on the American side of the Niagara River, and the Buffalo 
General Electric Company is engaged in the erection of a steam 
plant with a proposed immediate installation of approximately 
80,000 electric horse-power to take care of the electric service 
in Buffalo alone. It appears from Bulletin No. 416 of the U. S. 
Geological Survey, that a steam plant requires 4.55 pounds of 
coal to produce one electric horse-power. On this basis, this 
80,000 electric horse-power, continuous, represents a coal equiva- 
lent of 1,616,000 tons per annum. 

It has been suggested from time to time, both to state and 
Federal governments and committees that the undertaking of 
remedial works would not only prevent any possibility of injury 
to navigation through diversion of the waters for power purposes 
at Niagara, but would also actually increase the beauty of the 
Falls at their crest. An investigation of the possibilities, details 



138 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

and costs of such remedial works, and legislation looking toward 
the construction of the same upon some equitable arrangement 
of costs, would seem to be wise, conservative legislation and sub- 
stantially beneficial to the age in which we live. 

The treaty between the United States and Great Britain, 
relating to the boundary waters between the United States and 
Canada, was signed at Washington January 11, 1909; its ratifi- 
cation advised by the Senate March 3, 1909; ratified by the Presi- 
dent April 1, 1910; ratified by Great Britain March 31, 1910; 
ratification exchanged at Washington May 5, 1910, and proclaimed 
May 13, 1910, and was to remain in force five years and thereafter 
until either of the high contracting parties gives one year's notice 
that its termination is desired. No such notice has yet been given. 
This treaty was executed by the President of the United States 
and Elihu Root, Secretary of State, and by His Britannic Majesty 
and the Right Honorable James Bryce, O. M., ambassador extra- 
ordinary and plenipotentiary at Washington. The document 
provides that "for the purpose of this treaty boundary waters 
are defined as the waters from main shore to main shore of the 
lakes and rivers and connecting waterways, or the portions thereof 
along which the international boundary between the United 
States and the Dominion of Canada passes, including all bays, 
arms and inlets thereof, but not including tributary waters which 
in their natural channels would flow into such lakes, rivers and 
waterways, or water flowing from such lakes, rivers and water- 
ways, or the waters of rivers flowing across the boundary." 

Article V of the treaty, pertaining particularly to the Niagara 
River, reads: 

"The high contracting parties agree that it is expedient to 
limit the diversion of waters from the Niagara River so that the 
level of Lake Erie and the flow of the stream shall not be appre- 
ciably affected. It is the desire of both parties to accomplish 
this object with the least possible injury to investments which 
have already been made in the construction of power plants on 
the United States side of the river under grants of authority 
from the State of New York, and on the Canadian side of the 
river under licenses authorized by the Dominion of Canada 
and the province of Ontario. 

"So long as this treaty shall remain in force, no diversion of 
the waters of the Niagara River above the Falls from the natural 



THE BRITISH-AMERICAN TREATY LSO 

course and stream thereof shall be permitted except for the pur- 
poses and to the extent hereinafter provided. 

"The United States may authorize and permit the diversion 
within the State of New York of the waters of said river above 
the Falls of Niagara for power purposes, not exceeding in the 
aggregate a daily diversion at the rate of 20,000 cubic feet of 
water per second. 

"The United Kingdom, by the Dominion of Canada, or the 
province of Ontario, may authorize and permit the diversion 
within the province of Ontario of the waters of said river above 
the Falls of Niagara, for power purposes, not exceeding in the 
aggregate a daily diversion at the rate of 36,000 cubic feet of 
water per second. 

"The prohibitions of this article shall not apply to the diver- 
sion of water for sanitary or domestic purposes, or for the service 
of canals for the purposes of navigation." 

The treaty provides for the establishment and maintenance 
of an international joint commission of the United States and 
Canada, composed of six commissioners, three from each country. 
Under Article VIII, which reads as follows, the rules governing 
the commission are set out : 

"This International Joint Commission shall have jurisdiction 
over and shall pass upon all cases involving the use or obstruction 
or diversion of the waters with respect to which under Articles 
III and IV of this treaty the approval of this commission is 
required, and in passing upon such cases the commission shall be 
governed by the following rules or principles which are adopted 
by the high contracting parties for this purpose : 

"The high contracting parties shall have, each on its own 
side of the boundary, equal and similar rights in the use of the 
waters hereinbefore defined as boundary waters. 

"The following order of precedence shall be observed among 
the various uses enumerated hereinafter for these waters, and 
no use shall be permitted which tends materially to conflict with 
or restrain any other use which is given preference over it in this 
order of precedence: 

"(1) Uses for domestic and sanitary purposes; 

"(2) Uses for navigation, including the service of canals for 
the purposes of navigation; 

"(3) Uses for power and for irrigation purposes. 



140 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

"The foregoing provisions shall not apply to or disturb any 
existing uses of boundary waters on either side of the boundary. 

"The requirement for an equal division may in the discretion 
of the commission be suspended in cases of temporary diversions 
along boundary waters at points where such equal division can- 
not be made advantageously on account of local conditions, and 
where such diversion does not diminish elsewhere the amount 
available for use on the other side. 

"The commission in its discretion may make its approval in 
any case conditional upon the construction of remedial or pro- 
tective works to compensate so far as possible for the particular 
use or diversion proposed, and in such cases may require that 
suitable and adequate provision, approved by the commission, 
be made for the protection and indemnity against injury of any 
interests on either side of the boundary. 

"In cases involving the elevation of the natural level of waters 
on either side of the line as the result of the construction or main- 
tenance on the other side of remedial or protective works or dams 
or other obstructions in boundary waters or in waters flowing 
therefrom or in waters below the boundary in rivers flowing 
across the boundary, the commission shall require, as a condition 
of its approval thereof, that suitable and adequate provision, 
approved by it, be made for the protection and indemnity of all 
interests on the other side of the line which may be injured 
thereby. 

"The majority of the commissioners shall have power to 
render a decision. In case the commission is evenly divided upon 
any question or matter presented to it for decision, separate 
reports shall be made by the commissioners on each side to their 
own government. The high contracting parties shall thereupon 
endeavor to agree upon an adjustment of the question or matter 
of difference, and if an agreement is reached between them, it 
shall be reduced to writing in the form of a protocol, and shall 
be communicated to the commissioners who shall take such 
further proceedings as may be necessary to carry out such agree- 
ment." 




THE IIOUSESIIOK FALL 




A PART OF THE FALL 



CHAPTER XII 



GENERAL WATER-POWER 
DEVELOPMENT 

Many Projects Have Been Financial Failures. An Eminent Engineer 
States That There are not Five Large Water Power Plants 
in the United States That Are Successful Invest- 
ments 

A GITATION against the diversion of water for the creation 
r\ of electrical current has been one of the features of the 
great power development that has taken place in this 
country in the past quarter of a century, on the theory that 
natural scenery will be injured or wholly destroyed. Only a few 
people can live on scenery, while a great number are materially 
benefited by the use of power. 

Speaking recently upon the tremendous value of water 
power, Hon. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, in the 
cabinet of President Wilson, said in part: 

"Water-power is the most valuable natural resource — one 
might almost say the greatest asset — of the United States. Its 
future is unknown; it is incalculable, because water-power 
is the one natural resource that is inexhaustible; it replaces 
itself, which coal and oil do not, and it can be transmitted at 
slight expense and for long distances. 

"W^ater-power can do more than any one thing to lower the 
cost and raise the standard of living; it is the root of agricultural 
wealth; it is the key to the industrial life of the future and it 
is essential to our national defense. The policy of the govern- 
ment toward water-power is a matter that affects the welfare 
of every man, woman and child in the United States and in 
which every citizen should take an interest. 

"Few people realize how vital water-power is to our defense. 
The United States is going to prepare itself to protect democracy 

*10 ( 141 ) 



142 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

against any enemy that may assail it. We have here in this 
country a kind of government that we beHeve in, a kind of gov- 
ernment that will make a higher class of man than has yet been 
produced, and if it be necessary, we will fight for the opportunity 
to prove that theory. 

"This war has proved that one of the essential things is 
preparedness, to have the necessary resources, to have the 
chemicals, the minerals, the metals, the benzol, which is the 
foundation of high explosives; the copper, which is indispensable 
for the casing of the shells and for the manufacture of ammu- 
nition ; the gasoline that flies the airship and runs the submarine 
and without which the entire automobile transport of armies 
would break down. 

"Now there is no country in the wide world that is as rich 
in natural resources as the United States, and no country that 
can prepare itself for self-defense so easily or so quickly, and 
no country that, having girded up its loins for the fight, can be 
as formidable as the United States." 

One of the great questions in the United States at the present 
time is that of the conservation of our natural resources. It 
has a far-reaching import to the people of the country, and from 
a financial standpoint its extent is inestimable. Closely allied 
with the general question, of course, is that of the utilization of 
our water-power resources. Legislation dealing with the subject 
is now pending in the Congress of the United States. A bill 
has passed the House of Representatives and is now pending in 
the Senate to provide for the development of water-power and 
the use of public lands in relation thereto. Hearings before the 
Committee on Public Lands and the Committee of Interstate 
and Foreign Commerce of the House of Representatives brought 
out a volume of facts, figures and general statements upon this 
very broad subject. Water-power, of course, has been in use 
for many years by means of the more or less crude water wheels, 
but the electrical development from water-power is a decidedly 
modern affair. The latter really had its inception where the 
greatest quantity of water-power exists — Niagara Falls. Not 
only was the Niagara development the first and greatest, but 
it has been the most successful financially. 

The Congressional hearings brought out that in many cases 
the electrical power developments have been first-class grave- 



GENERAL WATER-POWER DEVELOPMENT 148 

yards for capital. To the Committee on Interstate and Foreign 
Commerce of the House of Representatives, Mr. Hugh L. 
Cooper, a consulting engineer of Stamford, Conn., made the 
statement that he had been the author of something like eight 
hundred thousand horse-power in designs which have been 
built in different parts of the country during twenty-five years. 
He then took up the matter of the large number of water-powers 
in the United States that have been bitter disappointments to 
the investors. As proof of his assertion regarding these disap- 
pointments, he filed with the Committee a list of over 506,000 
horse-power which have been built in the United States in the 
last ten years, representing an expenditure of around $100,000,- 
000, which were financial failures. In each instance there was 
a receivership, or some form of reorganization. There were 
fifteen plants in this list, with miscellaneous small water-power 
plants, and they are located in a dozen states. In the list of 
fifteen, the smallest capacity is 4,000 horse-power, and the 
largest 80,000 horse, with several of them developing over 
50,000 horse-power each. All of these plants were built after 
the great Niagara installation had been put in and proven to be 
a success financially. There are five great electric-power plants 
at Niagara now developing an aggregate of 600,000 horse-power, 
and it is estimated that the total investment in them is 
$60,000,000. Nearly all of the power now developed from the 
Falls of Niagara is marketed. There is where the electric fur- 
nace is chiefly operated, and many of the customers of the 
power companies are large consumers, one concern taking 
75,000 horse-power, another 60,000. In explanation of the 
financial failure of so many electric-power projects, it is stated 
that the development and application of water-power to economic 
uses is one of the most highly organized and intricate specialties 
of modern times. No one approaches it successfully, either 
technically or commercially, except the experienced and highly- 
trained specialist. 

Engineer Cooper made a further statement to the Congres- 
sional committee that you cannot find in the United States 
five water-powers of any considerable size — meaning 25,000 
horse-power or over — which you can speak of as successful 
investments, and concerning which you can go to a banker and 
tell him they are successful investments in water-power. He also 



144 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

spoke of the long campaign in the public press against water- 
power people in general, which has caused the public to feel 
that the water-power situation is pregnant with the trust idea 
that franchises have been grabbed, and the people been robbed 
thereof, whereas no greater fallacy was ever perpetrated by a 
well-meaning people. He further said that important cases 
could be cited where the statement was promulgated that 
another raid had been made upon the public, and another water- 
power had been stolen, when the facts have been afterwards 
proven by the expenditure of millions of dollars that Congress 
should have been petitioned to grant gold medals in recognition 
of these so-called plunderers for the conservation of a small 
amount of coal at a great private cost. The water-power business, 
as applied to electric transmission, is not much over twenty-five 
years old. It started at Niagara in 1890 when The Niagara 
Falls Power Company turned the first sod for its tunnel 200 
feet deep and 7,400 feet long under the city of Niagara Falls, 
connecting the upper with the lower Niagara River. The general 
power development business had to go over a long experimental 
road wherein vast fortunes have been lost. The company men- 
tioned above has invested over $25,000,000. A considerable 
portion of this amount was for experiments. For some of the 
companies which have failed, dams have cost two and three 
times as much as good, sound engineering experience in other 
lines of work, but inexperienced in water-power work, thought 
they would cost. 

In recent years, since the question has become of such uni- 
versal interest, various governmental organizations have been 
created to deal with the matter of water power, water supply, 
forestry, etc. In New York State there was the Water Supply 
Commission, which was succeeded by the Conservation Com- 
mission. There is also a National Conservation Commission, 
and the Secretary of the Interior, a Cabinet ofiicer, deals with 
the subject generally. A vast amount of statistical information 
has been collected. The matter of floods has an important bear- 
ing upon the subject. The National Conservation Commission 
says that: "The direct yearly damage by floods since 1900 
has increased steadily from $45,000,000 to over $238,000,000." 
The damage in eight months, from January first to August 
first, 1908, was $237,000,000 to buildings, goods, bridges, roads. 



GENERAL WATER-POWER DEVELOPMENT 145 

real estate and railroads. The United States has 52,630 square 
miles of water area as against 125,755 square miles in Canada. 
Water-power is dependent primarily upon precipitation. Of the 
annual rainfall, one-half is evaporated, one-third runs off through 
or under the ground, and eventually reaches the sea; one-sixth 
joins the ground water or is taken up by plant structure. It is 
estimated that if all the moisture in the upper one hundred feet 
of ground were collected, it would equal a lake seventeen feet 
deep, or about seven years of rainfall. 

While Canada has a water area more than double that of the 
United States, much of it is shallow, which affects the power 
possibility. The water-power development in Canada in 1910 
amounted to 1,016,521 horse-power, of which there was 532,266 
horse in the Province of Ontario. The Province of Quebec came 
next with 300,153 horse-power. British Columbia had 100,920 
horse. The largest users of this power were paper and pulp 
industries, taking 158,051 horse-power. Canada has a different 
system of handling its water-powers than has been in vogue in 
the United States. For a power plant installation it usually 
charges the nominal sum of ten dollars for the first and second 
years, and then twenty-five cents or fifty cents per horse-power 
per year, with a minimum payment of $100 to $1,500. The 
leases run from ten to twenty years. The usual estimates of 
water-powers run from 1,000 to 7,000 horse-power. This leasing 
system began in 1901. Canada has a Conservation Commission 
which has done very thorough work in the matter of collecting 
information. 

Since the Niagara Falls electrical power plants were installed, 
the Province of Ontario established the Hydro-Electric Commis- 
sion, which purchases electricity from the Ontario Power Com- 
pany and distributes it to the various municipalities. The 
Province of Ontario is bonded for four million dollars for that 
purpose. The Commission purchases not less than 8,000 horse- 
power and up to 100,000 horse-power of the Ontario Company 
at $9.40 per horse-power at the power station if over 25,000 
horse-power is taken, at 12,000 volts. The transmission line 
operates at 110,000 volts. The construction work cost the 
Province $3,500,000. The various municipalities pay the 
Commission $9.40 per horse-power plus four per cent of the 
construction cost, which is an annual amount sufficient to create 



146 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

a sinking fund to pay for construction cost in thirty years. 
In Toronto the current costs $18.10 per horse, which is the price 
to the city; the consumer pays more, and in Seaforth, Ontario, 
$41.25 per horse. The distance is a large factor. In the eastern 
municipaHties the cost is as high as $55.38 per horse, the price 
at Lansdowne. 

The general importance of water-power is shown by figures. 
Figures are said to be dry. In this instance they are not. In 
1880 the United States census showed that the total water- 
power in use in this country amounted to 1,225,379 horse-power. 
The same authority in 1905 showed there were 20,996 water 
wheels developing 1,647,964 horse-power. When the census 
was taken in 1909 the water wheels were developing 1,807,439 
horse-power. Inasmuch as the cost of generating hydro-electric 
power is less than half what steam-power costs, it can be seen 
how important it is to turn waste water energy into electric 
current. Besides the great lessening in the cost there is the 
added advantage of no smoke and no dust, and the further fact 
that the electricitj^ is always ready to be turned on. Something 
of what the electrical business now means is shown by the fact 
that the General Electric Company, the great manufacturer 
of electrical supplies, has an authorized capital stock of $105,- 
000,000, and that on December 31, 1913, it had assets of 
$144,000,000. 

To illustrate the extent and diversity of water-power develop- 
ment in the United States, it can be said that there are now 
three plants in the State of Arizona with a capacity of 16,100 
horse; 112 plants in the State of California with a capacity of 
1,061,494 horse; 62 plants in the State of Colorado with a total 
capacity of 121,358 horse; 38 plants in the State of Idaho with a 
total capacity of 221,318 horse; 26 plants in the State of Montana 
with a total capacity of 357,084 horse; 8 plants in the State of 
Nevada with a capacity of 63,590 horse; 2 plants in New Mexico 
with a capacity of 10,000 horse; 26 plants in the State of Oregon 
with a total capacity of 183,008 horse; 44 plants in the State of 
Utah with a total capacity of 84,351 horse; 45 plants in the 
State of Washington with a total capacity of 746,840 horse, 
and 6 plants in Wyoming with a total capacity of 83,840 horse. 
For these eleven far western and southwestern states, therefore, 
370 plants have a capacity of 2,949,000 horse. All of the power 



GENERAL WATER-POWER DEVELOPMENT U7 

produced by these 370 plants equals only about half of the 
potentiality of the Falls of Niagara, and the total of 379,»39 
horse developed in the six states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, 
New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming is far short of the 600,000 
horse-power now being developed at Niagara Falls. 

For the eleven States cited above, it is estimated that water 
power developments could be installed which would produce an 
additional minimum of 7,220,000 horse-power and 11,652,000 
horse-power if storage were used. For the first total 2,144,000 
horse would be in the State of Washington, 1,349,000 in Idaho, 
and 1,250,000 horse in Oregon. 

It is estimated by officials of the forest service that about 
12,000,000 horse-power can be developed in the national forests 
on the basis of low water conditions with consideration, how- 
ever, to some storage sites. It is roughly estimated, therefore, 
that installation of water wheels aggregating 18,000,000 horse- 
power capacity may reasonably be made on power sites of the 
public domain on the basis of low water conditions, and that this 
may be increased to 29,000,000 horse-power if all storage facili- 
ties are utilized. In addition there is, of course, a large amount 
of water power that can be developed without utilizing lands of 
the public domain. 

That is one side of the matter. There is much possible water 
power in this country. How much can be developed profitably? 
Along with the power, there must be a market for it. The electric 
furnace is a great consumer of electric current. It has made 
Niagara Falls the electro-chemical manufacturing center of the 
United States. Niagara Falls is also a center for the production 
of aluminum, abrasives, graphite and air fertilizer or cyanamid. 
The American Cyanamid Company built its first plant at Niagara 
Falls on the Canadian side. This industry is established in prac- 
tically every country of Europe and in Japan, but there is no 
plant in the United States, owing to power and other condi- 
tions. This industry has passed the experimental stage and 
promises to be a tremendous one. It is officially stated that 
in less than six years nearly $60,000,000 has been invested in 
factory building and in the development of water power for the 
operation of electric furnaces used in the fixation of atmospheric 
nitrogen as a fertilizer, but there has been no development in 
this country. In explanation of the business it is stated that 



148 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

cyanamid, or lime nitrogen, competes directly with sodium 
nitrate, or Chilean saltpeter, and that during thirty-one years, 
beginning with 1879, the industries and the agriculture of the 
world have paid a tax of over $425,000,000 to Chili. On every ton 
of Chilean saltpeter shipped from Chili there is an export duty 
of $11.16 per ton. From this one source sixty per cent of the 
Chilean revenues are derived. The official figures show imports 
of nitrate of soda from Chili for 1913 to be 625,835 tons, valued 
at $21,630,811. To indicate the great value of sodium nitrate 
to Chili it is related that the Chilean Senate offered a prize of 
$2,500,000 to the inventor of a process which will completely 
extract the nitrate contained in the raw material called caliche 
or Chilean saltpeter, which contains from fifty to seventy-five 
per cent of sodium nitrate. The direct effects resulting from 
the successful fixation of the nitrogen in the atmosphere as a 
fertilizer through the operation of the electric furnace is the 
immediate relief and encouragement in agriculture, the increased 
demand for and value of farm lands, the increase in the food 
supply and the reduction in the high cost of living. 

The European war has made this subject of far greater 
consequence. Germany has had her supply of nitrates from 
Chili cut off and must depend upon getting nitrogen from the 
air. If the United States should become involved in a great 
war, and its enemies should cut off its supply of Chilean nitrates, 
this country would have to extract from the air the nitrogen 
necessary to make powder. Besides being essential for explo- 
sives and fertilizer, nitrogen is the essential of many drugs, 
the source of anilin and coal tar dyes, and is used extensively 
in metallurgy and all the arts. It forms a part of nitre, ammonia, 
and nitric acid. It is stated that in the year before the European 
war broke out, the United States imported 600,000 tons of 
nitrates, costing $21,000,000. 

It is only in recent years that the process of separating nitro- 
gen from oxygen and storing it for mechanical use has been 
successful. The first factory of the kind was established in 
Niagara Falls, but was not a commercial success. Later, the 
cyanamid plant was established at Niagara Falls, Ontario. Cheap 
water power to produce electricity at low cost is necessary, 
for vast quantities of high electric current have to be used, and 
when this must be generated by steam power, the cost is pro- 



GENERAL WATER-POWER DEVELOPMENT 149 

hibitive. It is electricity that precipitates the nitrogen. In 
Norway the process was first used by subjecting air in tanks 
to electric sparks. Water power is plentiful in Norway, and 
at a nitrogen-producing plant at Riunken 150,000 horse-power 
is drawn from one waterfall. It is said that the largest nitrogen- 
producing plant in the world is at Odda, Norway, whose capacity 
is 2,000,000 tons of cyanamid a year. In Germany, a few years 
ago, it was discovered that when lime and coke were fused in 
an electric furnace, the resultant calcium carbide has the prop- 
erty of drawing nitrogen from the air. Another way of obtaining 
nitrogen is in liquefying air by freezing. At Notodden, Norway, 
is a nitrogen plant in which the electric arc precipitates nitrogen 
in the air in the form of nitric oxide. Modern explosives would 
be impossible except for nitric acid. Gun cotton is made by 
soaking cotton in sulphuric and nitric acids, and washing it. 
Benzine, vaseline, glycerine and other coal tar products, are 
turned into explosives by nitrifying them. 

Hence, the very great importance of a much larger develop- 
ment of water power in the United States. It is needed for the 
creation of electric current. Preparedness against war calls 
for it. 

Germany lacked nitrates, but recognized her deficiency 
years ago, and her military experts combed the whole world 
until a process was discovered by which nitrogen can be drawn 
from the air, deposited in lime, and shipped with as little trouble 
as if it were in bricks. Water-power and air and lime were all 
that Germany needed, and by years of patient toil she so per- 
fected the process that the day came when she knew that if 
England corked up every port, cut off every outside source of 
supply, she could turn the waters of her streams that run idly 
to the sea, and the boundless air above them into an inexhaust- 
ible supply of nitrates. 

Owing to agitation against water-power development, on 
the plea of alleged destruction of natural scenery. Congress has 
failed to permit one institution that was ready to invest $20,000,- 
000 in a plant, to use water that flows past two great cliffs in the 
West. Water-power is as essential to the future growth and 
development of this country as is air to the life of the physical 
body. Water-power is the most valuable of all our national 
resources. The United States has withdrawn and reserved a 



150 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

large number of dam and reservoir sites, without which the 
water is useless, because these dam and reservoir sites are essen- 
tial to the production of water-power. 

With reference to the Niagara Falls water power develop- 
ment, it should be kept in mind that not one of the electro- 
chemical, abrasive, aluminum, graphite and other concerns 
now using a large amount of electric power, was in operation at 
the time that the Niagara power development was initiated. 

Set off against the great possible market for cheap electric 
current are the many great and discouraging financial failures 
in connection with power developments. In addition to the cases 
already cited, a statement was made in the House of Repre- 
sentatives that the successful blocking of six water-power bills 
saved the government at least $25,000,000 because it was dis- 
closed that all six developments would not equal in capacity 
what would be considered by conservative hydro-electric engi- 
neers even a second-class development, and that they would 
show a horse-power cost so high as to make it impossible for them 
to compete with coal. Under the present general dam law only 
three important hydro-electric developments have been com- 
pleted: at Keokuk on the Mississippi River, at Hales Bar on 
the Tennessee River, and at Lock 12 on the Coosa River, The 
Mississippi River Power Company has developed 120,000 horse- 
power at Keokuk, which can be increased to 200,000, and the 
cost of the installation is stated to be $8,000,000 above the 
estimate. The cost of developing less than 50,000 horse-power 
at Hales Bar was estimated at $3,000,000 and reached $9,000,- 
000. In each case complaint is made about inability to sell the 
power. The facts confirm the statement made earlier in this 
article that water-power development, if successful, must be highly 
organized and handled by experts. 

In the State of New York the waste energy of water-power 
is equal to that produced by the consumption of 11,000,000 
tons of coal annually. There is estimated to be 1,500,000 horse- 
power in the State unused, and yet New York leads all other 
States in the amount of developed water-power. The New York 
Water Supply Commission survey, as long ago as 1908, showed 
the installation of 829,558 horse-power. Maine was next then 
with 466,774 horse, but California has now supplanted Maine. 
The New York Water Supply Commission sent engineers around 



GENERAL WATER-POWER DEVELOPMENT 151 

the State to examine each important water-power site. There 
is over 100,000 horse-power in the canal system, and over 100,000 
acres of swamp lands in the State. 

It has been recently estimated that the undeveloped water- 
power in the State of New York is equal to seventy per cent of 
all forms of power, except water-power now used in the State 
for numufacturing purposes; that at the present cost of gener- 
ating steam-power it would have a value of more than $50,000,000 
annually if used in manufacturing; that it would cost less than 
half what steam-power costs, and would be a boon equal to a 
reduction in the price of coal to less than $1.50 per ton; that 
this power, cheap and inexhaustible, transmitted electrically, 
could be carried hundreds of miles from its source and delivere<l 
for heating and lighting in homes and kitchens, for manufac- 
turing, pumping, irrigation and all forms of labor on farms, and 
for transportation. 



CHAPTER XIII 



THE FIRST SUSPENSION BRIDGE 

The Work was Started by Flying a Kite Across the Niagara Gorge, 
Carrying a String. The First Vehicle was an Iron Basket 



IN this volume is shown an engraving of the first railroad sus- 
pension bridge constructed over the Niagara River and 
completed in 1855. This bridge was principally used by the 
Great Western Railway, the predecessor of the Grand Trunk 
Railway, which uses the steel arch bridge which succeeded the 
suspension bridge in 1897. The only suspension bridge across 
the Niagara River now is at Lewiston, and that bridge was 
moved from Niagara Falls in 1899. On January 16, 1856, an 
international railroad festival or banquet was held at the Mont- 
eagle Hotel in the village then called Suspension Bridge, which 
hotel had just been completed, overlooking the new bridge and 
which still stands as a cold-storage warehouse. Preparations for 
this banquet were made by a formidable committee of arrange- 
ments, representing fifteen railroad companies, as follows: 
New York Central, New York and New Haven, Hudson River, 
New York and Erie, Canandaigua and Elmira, Canandaigua 
and Niagara Falls, Western Railroad of Massachusetts, Great 
Western Railway, Michigan Central, Erie and Ontario, Ontario 
and Simcoe, State Line, New York City, New York and Phila- 
delphia, and the Albany and Northern, also the American 
Express Company. Many prominent men of Niagara Falls, 
New York State and other states, were also honorary members 
of this committee. 

Niagara pioneered in bridge-building as well as in power- 
development, and the first suspension bridge with its wide 

(152) 



THE FIRST SUSPENSION BRIDGE 153 

span was the most remarkable structure of its kind in the 
country. 

The manner in which bridge-building started here was told 
during his life-time by the venerable Theodore G. Hulett, who 
supervised the construction of several smaller bridges, and who 
died a few years ago at the advanced age of ninety-five years, 
after being a resident of Niagara Falls for a long period of years. 
He was a justice of the peace for thirty years and was known to 
everybody as Judge Hulett. His description of the interesting 
work is herewith given: 

"The engineer stated in detail his plan of construction. 
First, to provide some means of crossing the gorge with men and 
tools without crossing at a ferry at Lewiston, five miles below, 
thus saving ten miles' travel for each desired crossing. His plan 
was to erect two towers, one on either side, twenty-five feet in 
height, and to suspend a wire cable of thirty-six strands of No. 10 
wire from the top of these towers, with about thirty feet deflec- 
tion, and upon which to place a yoke with grooved rollers at 
either end, and from which to suspend a cage of sufficient capa- 
city to accommodate two men, and this cage to be drawn across 
from side to side by means of a stationary windlass on either side 
of the bank. The first thing to be settled was the size, form and 
material of which this cage should be constructed. The engineer 
proposed this cage to be made of wood, and instead, I suggested 
iron. The engineer's objection to iron was its weight. In answer, 
I suggested that I thought one of iron could be made of less 
weight and more secure than one of wood. To test this proposi- 
tion, the engineer made a plan of his wooden cage, and carefully 
weighed, by figures, its weight. I then made a plan of a basket 
made of iron, which was also weighed and found to be ten pounds 
lighter than wood. 'We will have it iron,' exclaimed the engineer, 
'provided we can get it made.' I assured the engineer that getting 
it made would present no diflBculty, as I would make it with my 
own hands. The next interrogatory of the engineer was, 'What 
shall be its form?' We both at the time were sitting in rocking 
chairs of the same pattern. I requested the engineer to arise, 
and these two rockers were drawn close together, the engineer 
exclaiming, 'That is just what we want and will have.' Next in 
order was the construction of the cable upon which the basket 
was to travel. This cable was to be constructed of thirty-six 



154 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

strands of No. 10 wire, each strand to be subjected to a uniform 
strain, and the thirty-six strands bound into a round form by 
being wrapped by a transverse wrapping of a small annealed 
wire at intervals of eight inches, each wrapping being about four 
inches in length. This cable was formed around an iron yoke or 
clevis at either end as a means of fastening to the rock. After 
the detail of making the cable was disposed of, then came the 
question of how to get it over. The engineer suggested offering 
a premium of ten dollars to the first boy who should successfully 
fly over the gorge his kite string and fasten its ends to a tree on 
either side. This premium brought a score of lads into the contest, 
and a boy by the name of Homan Walsh (who now resides in 
Lincoln, Neb.,) was the successful winner of the prize, which 
was paid as soon as the kite string was secured on the bank of the 
stream. The following day a stronger line was drawn over by the 
kite string, and a rope of sufficient strength to haul over the iron 
cable was substituted. By means of this rope the iron cable was 
hauled across the river and its ends secured to the solid rock and 
placed upon the wooden towers. I made the iron basket and its 
attachments with my own hands, and it was placed upon the cable. 
A strong windlass, consisting of a wooden drum of about four 
feet in diameter, and so geared that one man at the crank could 
haul over any required load. One of these windlasses was placed 
on each bank, the draft rope passing around these drums at one 
end, and the other attached to the yoke from which the basket 
was suspended. This yoke was made of iron, with a grooved roller 
at either end that it ran upon, and the flanges astride the cable. 
"The first passage of this basket was attempted to be made 
empty, but when almost across it suddenly stopped and the 
windlass on the opposite side would not bring it ashore. It could 
be drawn back, but not forward, and the basket was drawn back 
to the American shore. Engineer Ellett mounted the car, which 
was let loose from the tower, and which descended the down- 
grade with great velocity until its momentum was arrested by 
the up-grade on the opposite side, when the windlass on the oppo- 
site side was set in motion and hauled the basket with its passen- 
ger to the point of obstruction, which was found to be a spot in 
the cable that had been flattened when the cable was being hauled 
across, and to such extent that that exceeded the width of the 
groove in the roller, which caused the flange of the forward end 



THE FIRST SUSPENSION BRIDGE 155 

of the roller to rise upon the cable and its edge to sink between the 
expanded strands of the cable. The engineer saw the diflBculty 
at a glance, and he soon remedied it by contracting the width 
of the cable, and the rollers passed over and the first passenger 
landed in safety across the gorge in this fairy basket. It was found 
that the groove in the rollers was too shallow and the tread too 
narrow to prevent undue friction on the transverse wrapping of 
the cable, and new and deeper-grooved rollers were substituted. 
This change made, this mode of transportation was complete, and 
it was used for that purpose for more than one year, and carried 
across the gorge more than 2,000 passengers. This cable was used 
until the preliminary bridge structure was completed, and then 
removed. 

"The preliminary bridge was but a slight structure of eight 
feet (roadway) in width, with a railing made from ash wood of 
oval form, one and one-quarter inches by two inches, locked 
together at its ends, and the splice bound together by a fine 
annealed wire and woven into the suspenders of the bridge 
longitudinally. There were four of these on either side, one foot 
apart, which made a strong and safe railing five feet in height. 
This bridge was only intended as a scaffolding from which to 
build the platform of the intended railroad bridge. The mode of 
construction of this preliminary bridge was not only unique, but 
was attended by a thrilling incident, which will not be forgotten 
by those who witnessed it, or its recital uninteresting to those who 
did not. 

*'The first preliminary bridge was composed of four massive 
wooden towers, two on either bank, some eighty feet in height. 
There were four corner posts, two feet square, constructed of 
four timbers one foot square, each of different length and separated 
on their inner sides by an oak strip, and all bolted firmly together. 
The sections were united by each timber being of a different 
length, and thus built up to the top. There were cross beams 
twelve inches square running around the vertical posts at inter- 
vals of about eight feet and bolted firmly to the corner posts, 
and bracing timbers from each cross beam to the corner posts. 
These towers were fourteen feet square at the base, terminating 
at their top at six feet square. These towers were mounted by 
a wooden roller of eighteen inches in diameter and six feet in 
length, upon which the cables were to rest. 



156 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

"The cables of this preliminary bridge were four in number, 
two on each tower. They were composed of about 120 strands 
of No. 10 wire, each wire having been stretched at an equal 
tension on the shore, with each wire passing around an iron yoke 
at each end as a means of anchoring the cables to the rock. 
These cables were wrapped transversely by small annealed wire 
at intervals of ten inches, each wrapping being four inches in 
length, the cable two and one-quarter inches in diameter. In 
getting these cables across, one end was anchored to the solid 
rock, a strong rope attached to the other end, which was connected 
with a powerful windlass on the Canada side, and by it the cable 
was hauled across the chasm and the ends anchored to the rock. 
This left a sag in the cable below the cliff of about eighty feet. 
By means of rope tackle these cables were lifted to the top of 
the towers to their final resting place, leaving the lowest point 
of deflection of the cables some fifteen feet above the level of 
the surface rock on either side. These cables were spread upon 
the wooden rollers on the top of the towers, four feet apart, and 
the transverse wrappings for about four feet at their apex removed 
for the purpose of leaving the wires flattened to give each strand 
of wire an equal tensile strength, and to enable the oil, with 
which they were kept painted, to reach each wire to prevent any 
possible oxidization of the wires, this being the greatest point 
of strain on the cables. 

"Next in order were placed strips of pine-scantling, two by 
three, across the two cables on either side, and four feet in 
length, fastened with wire to the cables, so as to prevent the 
cables getting out of line, and a cross support for the suspenders, 
which were composed of two strands of No. 10 wire, each end 
of the suspender terminating at the botton in a loop to receive 
the cross or needle beam of the flooring. As these suspenders 
and supports were shoved out, the floor was laid, which consisted 
of one-inch boards of two layers, each layer breaking joints. 
These temporary platforms of only four feet in width, were to be 
carried across from either side simultaneously until being united 
in the center, and when so united the platform at once assumed 
its intended form, a beautiful catenary curve to the cables and 
an upward curve to the flooring, each being governed by the cal- 
culation of the length of each suspending wire. 

"Two separate and distinct bridges were thus thrown across. 




VIEW OF THE HAI'IDS 
Looking up the river from tlif American Falls, and showing part of the Goat Island Uridge 




VIKW OF TliK WIIIHLI'o; F HAI'IDS AND (IIANT \VA\F 
When^ Captain WeM), the ureal swimmer, lost jiis life, Mn<l showimr Sti'el Ar h aiicl ( aiitilever Hailn 



d Bridges 



THE FIRST SUSPENSION BRIDGE 157 

after which they were brought together, side by side, and lashed 
firmly together, thus giving the supporting cables a lateral 
curve from twenty-four feet at the top of the towers to eight 
feet at the center of the bridge. 

"It was while these preliminary platforms were being carried 
out as above described that a terrific scene occurred. The 
northerly platform was completed and the other commenced on 
either side, the one on the Canada side almost one hundred feet 
from the bank, and on the American side about two hundred feet. 
There arose a sudden and terrific wind storm. As a first indi- 
cation of it, a two-inch plank was lifted from the top of the tower 
and was being carried as a feather at the behest of the storm. 
Its effect on the bridge was that the unfinished part was swinging 
to and fro for one hundred feet, at last throwing that part on 
the Canadian side over and across the basket cable. There were 
two workmen on the Canada end of the structure at the time 
of the crash, who made their escape to the tower, but on the 
American side there were four men on the structure, only one of 
whom reached the shore, the three remaining having no other 
support than to firmly clutch the two No. 10 wires and resting 
their feet on the shifting flooring of the platform. Nothing could 
be done to rescue these men, until the violence of the gale sub- 
sided. When the gale had spent its violence, a short ladder, 
twelve feet long, was attached to the iron basket with ropes and 
a request for some one to volunteer to go out in the basket to 
rescue the men. A young man named William Ellis stepped for- 
ward and said, T am your man.' Ellis sprang into the basket, 
but before starting I instructed him that he, under no considera- 
tion, should bring but one man at a time, as it was impossible 
to estimate the strain upon the basket cable, as the weight of the 
entire Canada end of the bridge was upon it, but to take off the 
one farthest out, and return for the others. Ellis' reply was, 'all 
right.' Out went the basket, passing the two unfortunates for 
the one farthest from the shore, the ladder was extended to the 
wreck, the unfortunate was eagerly watched until safely in the 
basket. The next unfortunate's appeals were so pressing to be 
taken in that Ellis forgot his instructions and the second unfor- 
tunate was soon seen crossing the ladder into the basket. The 
third was reached and the ladder pushed out again, and he also 
was landed in the basket. The basket — the capacity of which was 
11* 



158 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

but for two — was slowly drawn to the shore, laden with four 
stalwart men, and the four safely landed amid the shouts from 
the bystanders that silenced the raging elements. 

"Under this temporary platform was built the wagon bridge 
of eight feet in width as above described. This road bridge 
was used as a carriage and foot way for two or three years, 
awaiting the change of hard times, and the railroad it was intended 
to accommodate should be completed. At last this event hap- 
pened, and Engineer John A. Roebling, of Brooklyn Bridge fame, 
was Qjigaged as engineer to complete the original design — a rail- 
road bridge. Massive stone towers took the place of the original 
ones, and a railroad bridge and a carriage track beneath was 
erected by Mr. Roebling, which was used for years, and after all 
the woodwork of the structure was replaced by iron except the 
floors, which took place about fifteen years since by Engineer 
L. L. Buck, who about five years after substituted the massive 
iron towers for the stone towers erected by Engineer Roebling, 
which began to show signs of decay. 

"The engineering skill of Engineer Buck was manifested by 
the substitution of these present iron towers for the stone ones 
removed, when it is known that this change was made without 
interfering with railroad crossing for but two hours." 

The following statistics give an idea of the vast amount of 
material in the great suspension bridge built sixty years ago, 
and nearly twenty years ago dismantled : 

Length of span from center to center of towers .... 822 feet 
Height of towers above the rocks, American side . . 88 
Height of towers above the rocks, Canadian side . . 78 

Height of towers above floor of railway 60 

Height of track above water 258 

Number of wire cables 4 

Diameter of each cable lOM ^^- 

Number of No. 9 wires in each cable 3,659 

Ultimate aggregate strength of cables 12,400 tons 

Weight of superstructure 800 

Maximum weight cable and stays will support .... 7,300 '* 

The second suspension bridge, built near the Falls, fell 
during a great storm in 1889, was rebuilt and succeeded by the 
present steel arch. While the railway suspension bridge cost 



THE FIRST SUSPENSION BRIDGE 159 

about $500,000, tlie lighter structure not used for steam cars, 
only cost about $250,000. The span between the center of the 
towers was 1,208 feet, 446 feet longer than the lower bridge. 
The height above the surface of the river was 190 feet; height of 
towers above rock on Canadian side, 105 feet, and on American 
side, 100 feet. The base of the towers was twenty-eight feet 
square, and the top four feet square. The bridge was supported 
by cables composed of seven wire ropes each, which contained, 
respectively, 133 No. 9 wires. The weight of these wires per 
lineal foot was nine pounds, and the diameter of the cable, seven 
inches. The total weight of the suspended portion of the cable 
was eighty-two tons, net. There were forty-eight stays weighing 
fifteen tons net. The aggregate breaking strain of the cable is 
1,680 tons. 



CHAPTER XIV 



NIGHT ILLUMINATION OF THE FALLS 

Great Projectors Installed in the Gorge and on the High Bank Pro- 
duced an Incomparable Scene in 1907 — More Elaborate 
Permanent Illumination Proposed — Niagara in 
Literature 



THIS is the age of efficiency. The stupendous advance in 
electrical science in the past quarter of a century has 
been paced by the harnessing of the Niagara River, which 
has already resulted in the development of over half a million 
horse-power. The scenic grandeur of the Falls of Niagara has 
thus far been largely a daylight spectacle. To be scenically 
efficient, the cataracts should be visible also at night. If by the 
current that they themselves produce, the Falls can be brilliantly 
illuminated during the night hours, the ideal is reached and 
perfection attained. And it can be done. It has been done. 
What should now be done is to install a permanent illumination. 
Just as the cataracts, as a daylight spectacle, have no counter- 
part in the world, so there would be a matchless riot of electricity 
here when the shadows have fallen on the earth. The Aurora 
Borealis, as we can see it, is a feeble gleam beside the sea of 
light that flashes out of the pitchiness of the night when the 
beams of billion candle-power projectors are turned upon the 
flood that pours over the Niagara cataracts. The electric pro- 
jectors produce great billows of mist, giant waves of hurtling 
ferocity, and with the use of color screens, foam-crested waves 
of water run crimson and leap into violet, gold and green. The 
dark curtain of night is swung aside, and Niagara, illuminating 
itself, revealed. 

Such illumination took place in the autumn of 1907, for a 
few weeks. It was a success. The then Mayor, Hon. Anthony 

(160) 



NIGHT ILLUMINATION OF THE FALLS 161 

C. Douglass, advanced $5,000 from his own pocket, wliicli was 
afterward repaid to him by business people, to pay for the 
installation of the projectors and their maintenance. This illum- 
ination was a great success, and drew thousands of people to 
Niagara Falls at night. It showed the possibilities. It was 
temporary only. The projectors were designed and installed 
by W. D'Arcy Ryan of the General Electric Company of Schen- 
ectady. At the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, 
in 1915, Mr. Ryan installed forty-eight great thirty-six-inch pro- 
jectors, representing the forty-eight States of the Union, throw- 
ing their flood of light, but with no Niagara for a background. 
A project was launched to secure these projectors for permanent 
installation at Niagara Falls, and an organization was formed. 
The matter was so far advanced that the city of Niagara Falls, 
N. Y., placed $25,000 in its budget toward the purchase price, 
and it was expected that the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and 
various public service interests would subscribe the balance. 
Owing to the war in Europe the matter of the sale was deferred, 
and finally the Russian government bought the projectors at a 
price double that for which they had been offered to the Niagara 
Falls interests tentatively. 

At the time of the Falls illumination, in 1907, electricity 
representing 1,115,000,000 candle-power was turned upon the 
cataracts. There were twenty-one fifteen-inch projectors and 
fifteen thirty-inch projectors. The imagination can hardly 
grasp the meaning of one billion candle power. One million 
candle power is some light. In discussing electricity we talk 
about volts, amperes, watts and kilowatts. When we speak 
of electricity in terms of candle-power, our grandmothers who 
used tallow dips for light, would have a little better conception 
of what is meant than when we are talking in terms of volts, 
amperes and watts. 

What has been proposed is to continue Nature's great show 
after night, and by its own momentum, directed by the skill of 
man. The cataracts ordinarily wrapped in the shroud of night, 
stand out dazzlingly distinct against the blackness of the grim 
rock cliffs. 

In Service's ballad of the" Northern Lights is found an elo- 
quent description of the Aurora Borealis, from which the following 
excerpt is made: 



162 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

"And the skies of night were aHve with light, with a throbbing, thrilling flame, 
Amber and rose and violet, opal and gold it came. 
It swept the sky like a giant scythe, it quivered back to a wedge; 
Argently bright, it cleft the night, with a wavy golden edge. 
Pennants of silver waved and streamed, lazy banners unfurled; 
Sudden splendors of sabres gleamed, lightning javelins were hurled." 

Service finally likens the spectacle in the sky to "the all- 
combining searchlights of the navies of the world." Niagara 
with such illumination as was that at San Francisco, pouring its 
flood of light upon it at night would be inimitable. The tongue 
halts at comparison. 

In an article in the June, 1915, issue of the National Magazine 
of Boston, which was the first nation-wide reference to the 
subject, the author of this book said: 

"If the forty-eight great electric projectors, that are one of 
the chief attractions of the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San 
Francisco could, after the Exposition is over, be brought to 
Niagara Falls and installed permanently, it would be the most 
appropriate disposition that could be made of them. The great 
cataracts would not only then be the greatest daylight spectacle 
upon the globe, but also a magnificent night spectacle that 
would thrill thousands of people, and illustrate, most effectively, 
the stupendous significance of conservation." 

Lying between the State of New York and the Canadian 
Province of Ontario, on the boundary line dividing the two 
nations to which this great natural wonder belongs, the project 
has a distinct international aspect. It also has a distinct world 
interest. In 1912, State Senator Robert H. Gittins, of Niagara 
Falls, afterward Representative in Congress, passed through 
the New York Legislature a bill providing that the State should 
appropriate $50,000 for the permanent illumination of Niagara 
Falls, contingent upon the Province of Ontario appropriating a 
similar amount. The bill did not become a law because of the 
failure of the Ontario authorities to co-operate. 

It was estimated that the cost of an installation such as that 
at San Francisco would be from $75,000 to $100,000, and the 
annual cost of operation and maintenance in the neighborhood 
of $7,000. When Niagara Falls is illuminated in the manner 
indicated, the spectacle will surpass what Service said of the 
Northern Lights: 



NIGHT ILLITMINATION OF THE FALLS 1C3 

"They rippled green with a wondrous sheen, 
They fluttered out like a fan; 
They spread with a blaze of rose-pink rays 
Never yet seen of man." 

It is true that no words, however appropriate, no combina- 
tion of ideas, however felicitous, can do justice to Niagara, but 
from the time that the white man first saw the scene, poets and 
prose writers, many of them of national and even world-wide 
fame, have adorned literature with some of its most glittering 
gems as they recorded their impressions regarding Niagara. 
As an example of fine prose writing, listen to Charles Dickens, 
the great novelist: 

"It was not 'till I came to the brink of the American Fall 
at Prospect Point that it came upon me in its full, mighty majesty. 
The Niagara has forever stamped upon my heart an image of 
beauty to remain there changeless and indelible until its pulses 
cease to beat forever. Oh, how the strife and trouble of daily 
life receded from my view and lessened in distance during the 
ten memorable days we passed on that enchanted ground! 
What voices spoke from out the thundering water! What faces, 
faded from the earth, looked out upon me from its gleaming 
depths; what heavenly promise glistened in those angels' tears, 
the drops of many hues that showered around and twined them- 
selves about the gorgeous arches which the changing rainbows 
made. To wander to and fro all day, and see the cataract from 
all points of view; to stand upon the edge of the great Fall, 
marking the hurried water gathering strength as it approaches 
the verge, yet seeming, too, to pause before it shot into the 
gulf below; to gaze from the river's level up at the torrent as 
it came streaming down; to climb the neighboring heights and 
watch it through the trees and see the wreathing water in the 
rapids hurrying on to take its fearful plunge; to linger in the 
shadow of the solemn rocks, two miles below, watching the 
river, as stirred by no visible cause, it heaved and eddied and 
awoke the echoes, being troubled yet fdr down beneath the 
surface by its giant leaps; to have Niagara before me, lighted 
by the sun and by the moon, red in the day's decline and gray 
as evening slowly fell upon it; to look upon it every day, and 
wake up in the night and hear its ceaseless voice; this was 
enough. 



164 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

"I think in every quiet season now, still do those waters roll 
and leap, and war and tumble all day long; still are the rainbows 
spanning them a hundred feet below; still when the sun is on 
them do they shine and glow like molten gold; still, when the 
day is gloomy, do they fall like snow, or seem to crumble away 
like the front of a great chalk cliff, or roll down the rock like 
dense white smoke. But always does the mighty stream appear 
to die as it comes down, and always from its unfathomable grave 
arises that tremendous ghost of spray and mist which is never 
laid; which has haunted this place with the same dread solem- 
nity since darkness brooded over the deep, and that first flood 
before the Deluge — light — came rushing on creation at the 
word of God." 

The following beautiful lines relating to Niagara, were written 
by Mrs. Lydia M. Sigourney: 

NIAGARA 

Flow on forever, in thy glorious robe 
Of terror and of beauty. Yea, flow on, 
Unfathomed and resistless. God hath set 
His rainbow on thy forehead, and the cloud 
Mantled around thy feet. And He doth give 
Thy voice of thunder power to speak of Him 
Eternally — bidding the lip of man 
Keep silence, and upon thine altar pour 
Incense of awe-struck praise. 

Earth fears to lift 
The insect trump that tells her trifling joys 
Or fleeting triumphs, 'mid the peal sublime 
Of thy tremendous hymn. Proud Ocean shrinks 
Back from thy brotherhood, and all his waves 
Retire abashed. For he hath need to sleep. 
Sometimes, like a spent laborer, calling home 
His boisterous billows, from their vexing play, 
To a long dreary calm: but thy strong tide 
Faints not, nor e'er with failing hearts forgets 
Its everlasting lesson, night nor day. 
The morning stars, that hailed Creation's birth, 
Heard thy hoarse anthem mixmg with their song 
Jehovah's name; and the dissolving fires. 
That wait the mandate of the day of doom 
To wreck the Earth, shall find it deep inscribed 
Upon thy rocky scroll. 



NIGHT ILLl^MINATION OF THE FALLS 165 

Lo! yon birds. 
How bold, they venture near, ilipping their wing 
In all thy mist and foam. Perchunce 'tis meet 
For them to touch thy garment's hem, or stir 
Thy diamond wreath, who sport upon tlie cloud 
Unblamed, or warble at the gate of heaven 
^Vithout reproof. But as for us, it .seems 
Scarce lawful with our erring lips to talk 
Familiarly of thee. Methinks, to trace 
Thine awful features with our pencil's point 
Were but to press on Sinai. 

Thou dost speak 
Alone of God. who poured thee as a drop 
From His right hand — bidding the soul that looks 
Upon thy fearful majesty be still. 
Be humbly wrapped in its own nothingness, 
And lose itself in Him. 



CHAPTER XV 



SOME POWER PROJECTS 

Various Charters were Granted by the Legislature, and Work was 

Actually Commenced on Two Canal Schemes — Latest Plan 

Contemplates the Creation of 2,000,000 Horse-Power in 

the Lower River 



CONTEMPORANEOUS with the electrical power develop- 
ment plants at Niagara Falls have been several projects 
for creating electrical current out of the waters of the 
Niagara River, that have not been consummated. 

One of the first of these was that to take water from the 
river in the southern part of the village of LaSalle, and carry 
it across in a canal to the Lewiston escarpment, several miles 
east of the lower river, where the fall would create the power. 
From thence the water was to be carried in a canal or tail-race 
and discharged into the river. This was known as the Model- 
town project, and its chief promoter was William T. Love. His 
idea was to build a model city on the plain below the Lewiston 
escarpment, and he secured options upon hundreds of acres 
of farm lands in the towns of Lewiston, Porter and Wilson. 
Considerable local money, and some from a distance was actu- 
ally invested and lost in this scheme. From the New York 
Legislature was secured a charter said to have been the most 
liberal of all the power development charters that have been 
granted by the State. Work was actually commenced both 
upon the canal and upon the model town or city as it was first 
called. Several stone buildings for manufacturing purposes, 
and quite a number of residences, were erected, and the village 
still exists, the post-office being known as Modeltown. The 
excavation of this canal was also started at LaSalle, and piles of 
dirt and a deep hole remain there. The enterprise collapsed 

(166) 



SOME POWER PROJECTS 167 

during the panic of 1893, but attempts have been made since to 
revive it. With the enactment of the Burton law, in 1906, 
its consummation was effectually proliibilcd, but just previous 
to the introduction of the Burton bill into the Congress, plans for 
one of the most ambitious power developments ever attempted 
had been made, which contemplated the use of a part of the 
Love plan. Various people lost money in the Love scheme, 
and Mr. Love himself lost all that he had, and he afterwards 
refused to sell his company's charter except upon a basis that 
would permit the payment in full of all creditors and stock- 
holders. 

In 1906 one of the greatest corporations in the country had, 
as stated above, made plans for a big power development and 
the establishment at Niagara Falls of large manufacturing con- 
cerns. The power canal was to run from LaSalle to the Devil's 
Hole, where a great head is to be secured. The plans were 
drawn and inspected in Niagara Falls the very week that the 
Burton bill was introduced, but this piece of legislation put a 
quietus upon the project. 

The Love modeltown project, although chimerical in some of 
its details, was regarded on the whole as quite feasible, but 
some mistakes in attempting to finance it and the financial 
panic that swept over the country in the early nineties ended it. 

Another power development project that contemplated the 
use of Niagara River water was the so-called Lockport canal 
scheme. A charter was also secured from the Legislature for 
this, and there was much agitation upon the subject. W'ater 
was to be led from the Niagara River, and the fall at Lockport 
utilized with the eighteen-mile creek that discharges into Lake 
Ontario at Olcott Beach as the tail-race. An excavation for a 
fore-bay west of Lockport was started, but this scheme went 
the way of the Love canal scheme except that the charter was 
acquired by the Ontario Power Company through its auxiliary 
corporation, the Niagara, Lockport and Ontario Power Com- 
pany, which now transmits electric current to Lockport and as 
far east as Syracuse. 

A third power plan was to utilize the rapids of the lower 
Niagara River. The Lower Niagara River Power Company 
was incorporated, and secured a charter from the Legislature 
for that purpose. It planned to blast a tunnel through the rock. 



168 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

starting just north of the railway steel arch bridge and dis- 
charging the water taken from the river there into the river 
again at a point near the Devil's Hole. By this plan a fall of 
ninety feet could be secured. It was estimated that 200,000 
electric horse-power could thereby be developed. The tunnel 
would be about one and three-quarters miles long. The com- 
pany purchased 1,300 feet of river front at the head of the WTiirl- 
pool Rapids, for the purpose of intakes to its tunnels, and it also 
purchased a tract of land at the Devil's Hole on which to locate 
its power houses and for other purposes. A large portion of the 
right-of-way for its tunnel from the point of intake to the point 
of discharge was secured. The Burton law, prohibiting further 
diversion of the water of the Niagara River for power purposes, 
prevented the consummation of this project, although it was 
claimed not to have been the original intention of the Congress 
to have this law apply to the lower river. 

At the time this proposed legislation was under considera- 
tion, a representative of the Lower Niagara River Power Com- 
pany appeared before the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, 
in the House of Representatives, and explained the plan of 
development of this company. Members of the committee said 
to the representative of the company that the legislation they 
sought to enact would not affect the power development in the 
Jower Niagara River; but what they sought to obtain was to 
prevent further diversion of water from the Niagara River that 
would affect the scenic beauty of the Falls. 

The representative of the power company called their atten- 
tion to the fact that the language of their bill would prohibit 
diversion of any water from the Niagara River, thereby affecting 
the lower river the same way it would affect the upper river. 
The representative of the power company stated that if thej'^ 
would amend the bill by inserting the word "above" in front 
of the word "Falls," so if the bill were passed it would prohibit 
only the diversion of water above the Falls, that would be satis- 
factory, and the committee assured the representative of the 
power company this would be done, but the bill came up for 
consideration in the closing hours of the session of Congress 
and was passed without the amendment being made. 

As time went on, Congress became unwilling to have the 
Burton law amended in that respect through fear that if the 



SOME POWER PROJECTS 169 

matter came up for consideration, other amendments might be 
offered to change the law in regard to diversion above the Falls. 

The charter of the Lower Niagara River Power Company 
has been acquired by the Ontario Power Company, which has 
been understood to be ready to go ahead with this development 
whenever the Federal government would lift the ban upon the 
use of the waters of the lower river. The general opinion is that 
there is no good reason why power should not be developed 
there. The effect upon the scenic grandeur of the rapids could 
hardly be appreciable, and the power houses that have been 
erected in this vicinity have not detracted from the beauty of 
the landscape. 

Among other suggestions for power development from the 
Niagara River, which, however, have gone no further than the 
suggestion stage, is one for the erection of a bridge from the 
American to the Canadian shore, above Goat Island, with 
current wheels attached, and another for placing apparatus 
directly under the American fall, which plan would avoid the 
objection of diverting water from the upper river. This plan 
would use water that had already passed over the fall, and 
return it to the lower river. 

The greatest of all power development plans, either con- 
summated or proposed, is that recently promulgated by Hon. 
Peter A. Porter and T. Kennard Thomson, a New York engineer. 
Mr. Porter presented the plan to the joint committee of the 
New York Legislature investigating the power situation. The 
Porter-Thomson plan contemplates the production of the stu- 
pendous total of 2,000,000 horse-power in the lower river. And 
more than that — "Not only do we propose the greatest power 
development in the world," asserts Mr. Porter, "but we have a 
plan to place Niagara Falls on the map as a lake port and bring 
to a realization the dream of a ship canal from lake to lake 
around Niagara Falls." In no wise will this mar the scenic 
grandeur, Mr. Porter contends. For the power development 
will be located, not above the Falls, where all the trouble has 
been centered, but a good six miles below. The Rapids would 
have to be eliminated, but that is the sole loss which Niagara 
would suffer and the power plants above the Falls would not 
be in any way affected. 

The plan includes the erection of a colossal dam across the 



170 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

gorge, three-quarters of a mile south of Lewiston, The river 
is very narrow here, and natural conditions offer the best pos- 
sible opportunity for a dam of great strength. The dam would 
be at least ninety feet in height, a little less than one-third of 
the height of the steep banks of the gorge. Such dam would 
impound the waters of the river straight back to within about 
a mile of the Falls. This would submerge the present Whirlpool 
Rapids, the Whirlpool and the entire lower rapids beneath a 
long, narrow lake. The lower end of this lake, pouring over the 
proposed dam, would create a smaller Niagara. The drop of the 
river from the Falls to Lewiston, seven miles below, is about 
one hundred feet, providing at least, according to Mr. Porter's 
estimate, for the development of 2,000,000 horse-power. The 
scheme also includes a ship canal to connect Lake Ontario with 
Lake Erie, a project which has been dreamed of for many years. 
Mr. Porter holds that it would be feasible to place a lift lock 
at the foot of the proposed ninety-foot dam in the gorge, which 
would carry lake vessels up to the higher level from Lake On- 
tario. This would permit them to steam direct to the City of 
Niagara Falls. Then, at the foot of the Falls themselves, would 
be two enormous lift locks, one on the American and one on the 
Canadian side of the cataract. The American lock would lift 
vessels up to the high bank. There they would find passage in 
a short ship canal to the upper reaches of the river, and thence 
on to Buffalo and the great Lakes. On the Canadian side, the 
lock would lift the vessels to the top of the first bluff. There a 
second lock would carry them to the higher level and thence by 
canal to the Welland canal. 

The scheme would cost, Mr. Porter estimates, about $100,- 
000,000. 

"It is an enormous proposition," declares Mr. Porter, "but 
the State of New York is expending $150,000,000 on the Erie 
canal. The United States government will soon have spent 
$500,000,000 on the Panama Canal. Great Britain has expended 
many, many millions to dam the Nile. The Roosevelt dam has 
cost millions, to be sure, but it has brought under cultivation 
thousands of acres hitherto barren. 

"This plan positively will not affect the Falls of Niagara. 
It will, without a doubt, however, wipe out the present scenery 
of the lower river. But the creation of 2,000,000 horse-power for 



SOME POAVER PROJECTS 171 

the encouragement of industries over a widespread area — over 
at least a radius of 500 miles in the very near future— would 
compensate many times over for the loss of the scenery of those 
lower rapids, and would be for the benefit of humanity/ It would 
afford light, heat and power and occupation for many thousands 
of citizens of this State. 

"I should never ignore the wisdom of the everlasting preser- 
vation of the great cataract of Niagara, the most famous scenic 
sight on earth unharmed and unharnessed. It is not necessary 
to mar Niagara's grandeur. Above the Falls today, and without 
detracting an iota from their beauty, the waters have already 
been diverted under authority, and today are developing 500,000 
horse-powder. 

"The rapids below the Falls clear down to Lewiston, a dis- 
tance of seven miles, are glorious. But they contain potential 
possibilities for the production of power to be used directly for 
the good of humanity, which will yield far greater benefits, 
direct daily benefits, to many thousands, than by letting that 
power flow to waste. 

"It seems to me that it is a sinful waste for the State of 
New York to allow all that power to continue undeveloped and 
unused. I do not believe that New York State ought any longer 
to allow such source of benefit to its people, such a source of 
taxation and revenue, to be disregarded. The great cry all over 
the land today is for the use, development and conservation of 
the water powers, not forgetting the widely advertised maxim, 
'Safety first.' 

"This one development down the gorge would save an annual 
consumption of something like 50,000,000 tons of coal — an enor- 
mous and unjustifiable economic waste." 

Mr. Porter suggests that the State of New York and the 
Province of Ontario undertake the project jointly or grant the 
right of the undertaking to a private corporation, deriving some 
financial benefit from the development by a fixed tax on the 
amount of power developed. 



CHAPTER XVI 



A GREAT ELECTRIC RAILWAY 
SYSTEM 

The International Railway Company has about 400 Miles of Track. 
With the Niagara Gorge Railway it Operates the Niagara 

Belt Line 

IN 1892 the Niagara Fails and Suspension Bridge Street 
Railway Company, which operated a horse-car line through 
and between the villages of Niagara Falls and Suspension 
Bridge, along Falls, Second, Ontario and Main Streets, and 
Lewiston Avenue, was electrified, and some of the first electric 
trolley cars in the country were operated over that route. At 
about the same time, Burt Van Horn promoted the construction 
of a single track road called the Niagara Falls Whirlpool and 
Northern Railway. This was a short line connecting with the 
first-named railroad and running to the Devil's Hole, which is 
just north of the city line of Niagara Falls. In a sense, this was 
the beginning of the great International Railway system, which 
is one of the most comprehensive electric railway systems in the 
country, and which operates all of the electric cars on the imme- 
diate Niagara frontier except the Niagara Gorge Railway and 
the Niagara, St. Catharines & Toronto line, which runs out of 
Niagara Falls upon the International tracks. Soon after the 
construction of the Niagara Falls, Whirlpool & Northern Railway, 
Mr. Van Horn became associated with Hon. W. Caryl Ely, a 
prominent lawyer of Niagara Falls, and a man of state-wide 
reputation, in the construction of the Buffalo & Niagara Falls 
Electric Railway of which Mr. Ely was president and Mr. Van 
Horn general manager. Later, in the great trolley merger that 
was first called the International Traction Company, they held 
the same oflacial positions. This system includes all of the 

(172) 



A GREAT ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM 173 

electric railroads in Buffalo, the Tonawandas, Niagara Falls 
and Lockport, together with a line to Olcott Beach, afterward 
constructed, and the Niagara Falls Park & River Railway, 
which runs from Chippewa through Niagara Falls and Queens- 
ton, Ontario, and crosses the suspension bridge at Lewiston. 
This bridge, formerly known as the upper suspension bridge, 
was moved from Niagara Falls and the upper steel arch bridge 
was constructed on its site. The system also extends easterly 
from Buffalo to Lancaster and Depew. The International Rail- 
way Company operates altogether about 400 miles of tracks, with 
electric power furnished by The Niagara Falls Power Company. 

The International Railway Company was organized February 
19, 1902, as the successor of about twenty-five street railway and 
bridge companies. Its stock is owned by the International 
Traction Company, a majority of whose stock is held in turn by 
the United Gas & Electric Corporation of New York. According 
to the report of the Public Service Commission of the second 
district, this consolidation includes the Buffalo Railway Com- 
pany, the Buffalo & Niagara Falls Electric Railway Company, the 
Buffalo, Tonawanda & Niagara Falls Electric Railroad Company, 
the Niagara Falls & Suspension Bridge Railway Company, 
the Buffalo & Lockport Railway, the Lockport & Olcott Railway, 
the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company, the Lock City 
Electric Railway Company, the Buffalo, Kenmore & Tonawanda 
Electric Railway Company, the Buffalo Street Railway Com- 
pany, the Buffalo East Side Railway Company, the West Side 
Railway Company, the Buffalo & Tonawanda Electric Railway 
Company, the Buffalo Traction Company, the Buffalo, Bellevue 
& Lancaster Railway Company, the Niagara Falls WThirlpool 
& Northern Railway, the Elmwood Avenue & Tonawanda 
Electric Railway Company, the Electric City Railway Company, 
Crosstown Street Railway Company, the Lewiston Connecting 
Bridge Company, the Niagara Falls Park & River Railway 
Company, the Clifton Suspension Bridge Company, and the 
Queenston Suspension Bridge Company. 

The officers of the company are now: President, Edward G, 
Connette; vice-president, Edgar J. Dickson; secretary and 
treasurer, George W. W^ilson. 

The system is the second largest in the State, outside of New 
York City, the New York State Railways standing first. 

12* 



174 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

The railway company has a capital stock of $16,000,000 
and a mortgage indebtedness exceeding $22,000,000. The 
Public Service Commission Report for 1914 shows that this rail- 
way company had 2,373 employees to whom it paid during the 
year a compensation of $2,415,260. Its organization is not 
excelled in eflSciency and esprit de corps by any other railroad 
system in the United States. That the company requires a large 
equipment is shown by the fact that the Public Service Com- 
mission reports it as having 785 cars, with 188 held under lease. 
This was in 1914 — and the total revenue of the International 
Railway Company for that year was given as $6,701,105, while 
the total operating expenses were $4,005,138. Other interesting 
statistics with reference to the operation of this system show the 
average length of road operated to be 222.37 miles; the operating 
revenue per mile of road $30,507; the operating expenses per 
mile of road $18,011; the operating ratio, 59.04 per cent; the 
total number of revenue car miles, 21,606,889; number of fares, 
124,010,975, averaging 5.28 cents each; number of passengers, 
fares and transfers, 176,091,493; and the total number of ton 
miles of freight, 3,049,067. 

Outside of New York City the Niagara frontier is one of the 
largest passenger producing territories in the country for an 
electric railroad system, inasmuch as not only does the Inter- 
national Railway Company serve the city of Buffalo with its 
population of about half a million people, and other cities of the 
locality, but it is estimated that the annual pilgrimage of sight- 
seers to Niagara Falls is from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 people, and 
the traflBc between Buffalo and Niagara Falls is largely increased 
for that reason. 

With its line from Buffalo to Niagara Falls, and its belt line 
around the inimitable Niagara Gorge, the International Railway 
Company furnishes one of the most beautiful trips in the world. 
The panorama that greets the eye of the passenger through the 
car window as the big trolleys skirt the shore of the upper Niagara 
River is one of the finest in the land. The region traversed is 
one of extraordinary diversity and remarkable contrast. After 
arrival at Niagara Falls, a trip around the Niagara belt line 
unfolds to the traveler the beauties and grandeur of the American 
and Horseshoe Falls, the great Whirlpool Rapids, the stupendous 
Gorge and the magnificent scenery that has made the Niagara 



A GREAT ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM 175 

locality world-famous. The route of the belt line is across the 
steel arch bridge just below the Falls, up the river on the Cana- 
dian side, to Table Rock, and thence back on the high bank to 
Queenston, where the cars cross the company's suspension bridge 
to Lewiston and return to Niagara Falls along the water's edge 
over the tracks of the Niagara Gorge Railroad. 

The development of this electric railway system is one of the 
most notable in the country, and nowhere has the transformation 
been as marked as in the city of Niagara Falls. The Niagara 
Falls & Suspension Bridge Railway Company was incorporated on 
October 21, 1882, and operated with horses as motive-power until 
1892, when the road was electrified. Niagara Falls and Buffalo 
were among the first cities in the country to have electric railroads. 
Instead of the two or three miles of tracks of the original line, there 
are now some twenty miles of tracks in Niagara Falls, lengthy 
connecting lines having been constructed on Niagara, Sugar, Pine, 
Nineteenth and Twenty-fourth Streets, and Ontario Avenue. 

That part of the International Railway system connecting 
Buffalo and Niagara Falls north of the Tonawandas was con- 
structed in the public highway, known as the River Road, up 
to a point called Edgewater where a trestle was built over the 
steam railroad tracks there, and the trolley line was carried 
further inward. Owing to the constant increase in the traflSc, the 
company several years ago projected a new line on a straight and 
private right of way between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, and this 
project is about to be consummated. It is expected that an 
express service can be established on the new line that will make 
the time between Buffalo and Niagara Falls fifty minutes. The 
Public Service Commission has granted a franchise for the new 
line, which will have two passenger tracks and a freight track. 
The right-of-way has been secured and construction will be well 
along by the summer of 191G. The new line will be one of the 
fastest and best equipped in the country. 

A part of the belt line, which is not owned by the Interna- 
tional Railway Company, is the Niagara Gorge Railway, which 
operates between Niagara Falls and Lewiston on the American 
side of the river, near the waters' edge for much of the distance. 
It is truthfully called the most magnificent scenic route in the 
world, for, with the towering cliffs above, the trip may be said 
to have a double interest. 



176 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

On the belt line trip, as the car crosses the bridge, one of the 
most perfect views of the Falls is unfolded, and on its course 
up the river on the Canadian side this magnificent view of the 
American and Horseshoe Falls is ever present, always from a 
new point of vantage, until the cars reach Table Rock, almost 
at the brink of the Horseshoe Falls. Here can be seen the wild 
and plunging waters of the Canadian rapids before they leap 
into the chasm. Then the car describes a loop and runs down the 
Canadian side of the river to Queenston. There on the heights 
where it can be seen many miles away, is the great monument, 
185 feet high, erected in 1853 and rebuilt in 1870, to the memory 
of the famous British General, Sir Isaac Brock, who fell in the 
Battle of Queenston Heights in the War of 1812. General Brock 
was killed at the foot of the mountain, however, and there, before 
the car crosses the river to the American side, is seen a cenotaph 
erected by the Prince of Wales, afterward King Edward VII of 
England, on his visit to Canada in 1860. Coming up the river 
on the Niagara Gorge Railway, or "Great Gorge Route," a his- 
toric place called the Devil's Hole is passed. At this point, in 
1763, a British caravan and company of soldiers were ambushed 
and massacred by the Indians, the entire company being driven 
over the cliff and all lost save one. 

The Niagara Gorge Railway not only furnishes an unsur- 
passed scenic route, but its history is of unusual interest. The 
promoter and the man who furnished most of the money to 
build it was the late Capt. John M. Brinker of Buffalo, who 
organized the Niagara Falls & Lewiston Railroad Company, as 
the present corporation was first known. Captain Brinker 
projected this railroad some years before he actually constructed 
it. Some people laughed at him and regarded his plan as not 
feasible and, as a matter of fact, almost impossible of accom- 
plishment. 

The construction of this road on a less ambitious scale was 
attempted by the Niagara Falls & AVliirlpool Railway Com- 
pany, which was organized in January, 1886. This company 
proposed to build a railroad "commencing at a point near the 
foot of the inclined railway which extends from Prospect Park 
to near the easterly margin of Niagara River, such point of 
beginning being a short distance below the foot of the iVmerican 
Falls on the American side of the Niagara River in the county 



A GREAT ELECTRIC RAILWAY SYSTEM 177 

of Niagara, and running thence (by the most direct and feasible 
route) along the easterly margin and near the water's edge of 
said Niagara River, about 400 feet below and northerly from 
the foot or outlet of the portion of Niagara River commonly 
known as the Whirlpool." 

This company got into the courts because its right to condemn 
property desired to be taken was questioned. The reason assigned 
was that the proposed railroad would have no termini. It lost 
lis case in the courts. The matter came up when an ai)plication 
was made to the Supreme Court for the appointment of a com- 
mission to appraise lands proposed to be taken, and the claim 
was made by opposing interests that the taking was not for 
public use, within the meaning of the law, because the proposed 
road did not connect at either end with a highway, because it 
could not be reached except over the lands of the State or the 
lands of private owners, and that there could be no habitation 
along the line of the road, and no traffic, or commerce, or business 
except in conveying passengers over the road to see the river 
and whirlpool, and returning them again to the point from where 
they started. It was further claimed that the business would 
practically all be done in the four months of June, July, August 
and September, and that the road could not be operated in the 
winter because of the ice and snow. Later experience proved 
the fallacy of that claim. However, the matter finally got to the 
Court of Appeals, and the decision of the lower courts against 
the railroad company was affirmed in February, 1888. 

To avoid the legal obstacles which the original company 
encountered, Captain Brinker organized the Niagara Falls & 
Lewiston Railroad Company, whose name was changed later to 
the Niagara Gorge Railway Company, and the road built by it 
connects with a highway in Niagara Falls and one in Lewiston, 
so that no question was raised concerning the company's right 
to condemn property required for a right-of-way. 

It was a big engineering feat to build the Gorge road. A 
gradual descent from the city of Niagara Falls into the Gorge 
had to be excavated through the rock, and rock excavation was 
necessary at many points along the route in order to lay the double 
tracks. Captain Brinker and his associates finally succeeded in 
completing the novel railroad, and its operation l)egan in 1895. 
In 1896 it secured an entrance into the city over the tracks of 



178 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

the Niagara Falls & Suspension Bridge Railway Company, 
now a part of the International Railway Company. To secure 
its right-of-way, the company purchased elevators used for 
conveying sightseers into the Gorge and other valuable property. 
The total cost of the seven-mile railroad is understood to have 
been over $800,000. As a result of its construction and operation 
much pleasure and instruction have been afforded to hundreds 
of thousands of people who have journeyed over the "most 
magnificent scenic route in the world." 

The present officers of the Niagara Gorge Railway Company 
are: President, Capt. J. T. Jones, of Buffalo; vice-president 
and general manager, Bert L. Jones of Buffalo; superintendent, 
Eldred E. Nicklis, of Niagara Falls. 



CHAPTER XVII 



A COUNTY WITH THREE CITIES 

That is Another One of the Distinctions that Niagara Has— A Great 

Lumber Traffic— The Various Ship Canal Projects— When 

Steamers First Came to the Falls 



IN writing this book the author has not attempted to present 
the political history of the countj^ which bears the famous 
name of Niagara. This book is regional in its character 
rather than a county history. The big things relating to the 
Niagara Frontier, which are of not only local but national and 
international interest, are here set forth. Other books published 
in 1878 and since have given the political history of Niagara 
County and the intimate affairs of its people. This county has 
given many able and important men and women to the State 
and to the nation, and much pertaining to its agriculture, business 
and social life is of more than ordinary interest, but space forbids 
dealing with these matters at length in a publication of this 
kind. An effort has been made to write concerning things of 
broad significance and to place upon the printed page some 
information with which perhaps the general public is not 
entirely familiar. The preface partially outlines the contents of 
"Niagara — Queen of Wonders." Always there is in mind Na- 
ture's greatest work, the 

"Grand, sublime, supreme, supernal wonder." 

Then it is told what man has done, is doing and might do with 
it for the benefit of the race, without losing sight of the universal 
desire for the preservation of the scenic grandeur of the world's 
greatest cataracts and the marvelous river of which they are the 
crowning feature. 

(179) 



180 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

Something has been told of the poHtical history of the city 
of Niagara Falls, which is the largest city in the county and in 
western New York outside of Buffalo and Rochester. The 
county of Niagara contains three cities, and until recent years 
was the only county in the State of New York that did contain 
three cities. It is made up otherwise of twelve townships, and 
the agricultural part of it surpasses in excellence most other 
portions of the State. Especially does Niagara County surpass 
its sister counties in fruit growing. One village railroad station, 
Barker, received for shipment over 1,700 carloads of farm prod- 
ucts, mostly apples, peaches and other fruits, in the fall of 1915. 

The oldest city in the county is Lockport, deriving its name 
from the remarkable set of locks on the Erie Canal there. It 
is the county seat of the county. It was originally planned to 
have the county seat at Lewiston, and the main street in that 
village is one of the widest in the county. Niagara County was 
erected April 2, 1821, and Lockport was incorporated as a 
village by act of the Legislature March 26, 1829. On April 11, 
1865, the Legislature made Lockport a city. The state census 
in 1875 gave the city a population of 12,553. By the state census 
of 1915, the population was nearly 19,000. The city contains 
many beautiful homes and wealthy people, and there is consid- 
erable manufacturing there with power from a race-way fed with 
surplus waters of the Erie Canal, Electric current from Niagara 
Falls is also now used in Lockport. The principal manufactured 
products are print paper and wood pulp, indurated fibre, flour, 
machinery, saws, cotton-batting, glass, building blocks, etc. 

One of the most substantial and at the same time unique 
organizations of its kind in the state or in the country is the 
Niagara County Pioneers Association, which for thirty-eight 
years has called together large crowds of people annually. The 
association was formed at Olcott Beach on September 13, 1877. 
Each year since then a great picnic has been held there, easily 
the chief event of its kind in western New York. The men 
who have presided over the destinies of the association have 
been the most substantial and honored citizens of the county. 
The men who have annually addressed it have been either the 
leaders of public thought in Niagara County, or men of state and 
national reputation. In recent years, the latter have been the 
rule. The association has always been kept upon a high plane. 



A COUNTY WITH THREE CITIES 181 

'Hie list of men who liave served as presiMciil and wlio liavc 
delivered the annual addresses is a roll of hon(jr and should be 
preserved as sueh. Here it is: 

1878 — Hon. John VanHorn of Newfane, President. Hon. (Jeorge W. Holley 
of Niagara P'alls. speaker. 

1879 — Franklin Spauldiiig of Niagara Kalis, President. Hon. Burl Nan- 
Horn of Newfane, speaker. 

1880— Franklin Spaulding of Niagara Falls, President. Hev. John S. 
Bacon of Niagara Falls, speaker. 

1881 — Hon. Alfred Holmes of Lockport, President. Hev. K. P. Jarvis 
of Somerset, speaker. 

1882 — Hon. Lyman .\. Spalding of Lockport, President. Mo.ses S. Hunting 
of Lockport, speaker. 

1883 — Hon. Lyman A. Spalding of Ixjekport, President. James F. Fitts 
of Ix)ckport, speaker. 

1884 —Hon. Guy C. Humphrey of Somerset, President. Charles H. Squires 
of Lockport, speaker. 

1885 — Hon. Guy C. Humphrey of Somerset, President. A. Augustus 
Porter of Niagara Falls, speaker. 

1886 — Col. George L. Moote of Porter. President. Hon. Richard Crowley 
of Lockport, speaker. 

1887 — Col. George L. Moote, President. Charles H. Squires of Lockport, 
speaker. 

1888 — John G. Freeman of Ix)ekport, President. Hon. K<lnuind L. Pitts 
of Medina, speaker. 

1889 — John G. Freeman of Lockport. I'resident. Hon. John E. Pound of 
Lockport, speaker. 

1890 — Hon. John Hodge of Lockport, President. Rev. George W. Powell 
of Lockport, speaker. 

1891 — Hon. John Hodge of Lockport, President. Hon. Daniel N. Lo<k- 
wood of Buffalo, speaker. 

1892 — Elisha B. Swift of Cami)ria. President. Rev. C. \V. Camp of Ixxk- 
port, speaker. 

1893— Eli.sha B. Swift of Cambria, Presi.h-nt. Dr. E. W. Gantt of L<K-k- 
port, speaker. 

1894 — Bemjamin F. Felton of North Tonawanda, President. Hon. Richard 
Crowley of Lockport, speaker. 

1895 — Hon. Lee R. Sanborn of Sanborn. President. H(jn. William .\. 
Sutherland of Rochester, speaker. 

1896 — Hon. Jjce R. Sanborn, President. Prof. Edward Haywanl of Lo<'k- 
port, speaker. 

1897 — Hon. John E. Pound of I/ockport. I'resident. Hon. Jonas W. Brown 
of Jyockport, speaker. 

1898 — Hon. John E. Pound of lyockj^ort. President. Edwiird J. Taylor of 
Lockport, speaker. 

1899 — Hon. Thomas V. Welch of Niagara Falls. President. Gov. Theo<lore 
Roosevelt, speaker. 



182 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

1900 — Hou. Thomas V. Welch of Niagara Falls, President. Hon. William 
F. Mackey of Buffalo, speaker. 

1901 — Hon. Peter A. Porter of Niagara Falls, President. Lieut. Richmond 
Pearson Hobson, speaker. 

1902 — Hon. Peter A. Porter of Niagara Falls, President. Gov. Benjamin 
B. Odell, speaker. 

1903— Hon. Peter A. Porter of Niagara Falls, President. Hon. David 
Bennett Hill, speaker. 

1904— Willard Hopkins of Lewiston, President. Hon. Richard Crowley 
of Lockport, speaker. 

1905 — Dr. William Q. Huggins of Sanborn, President. Hon. Peter A. 
Porter of Niagara Falls, speaker. 

1906— Hiram K. Wicker of Lockport, President. Hon. Cuthbert W. 
Pound of Lockport, speaker. 

1907— Edward T. Williams of Niagara Falls, President. Lieut.-Gov. 
Lewis S. Chanler of New York, speaker. 

1908 — John P. Brown of Royalton, President. State engineer and sur- 
veyor Frederick Skeene, speaker. 

1909 — H. Seymour Ransom of Ransomville, President. Edward T. Wil- 
liams of Niagara Falls, speaker. 

1910 — H. Seymour Ransom of Ransomville, President. Hon. Herbert P. 
Bissell of Buffalo, speaker. 

1911 — Edward T. Williams of Niagara Falls, President. Attorney-General 
Thomas Carmody, speaker. 

1912— Edward T. Williams of Niagara Falls, President. Hon. Peter A. 
Porter of Niagara Falls, speaker. 

1913 — George S. Gooding of Lockport, President. Gov. William Sulzer 
of New York, speaker. 

1914 — George S. Gooding of Lockport, President. Miscellaneous program. 

1915 — Hon. William Richmond of Lockport and Hon. Elton T. Ransom 
of Ransomville, President. Secretary of State Francis M. Hugo of Albany, 
speaker. 

Another unique and very interesting organization in Niagara 
County is the Niagara Frontier Historical Society, which has 
its headquarters in the Carnegie Library at Niagara Falls. It 
was founded about twenty years ago, and has a large collection 
of relics related to the early history of the Niagara Frontier. 

Still another historical organization is the Niagara Frontier 
Landmarks Association, which has its headquarters in Buffalo, 
but which is made up of delegates from all of the frontier com- 
munities. The association has placed tablets at various points 
along the Niagara River, marking spots where important his- 
toric events have occurred. 

The third city in Niagara County is North Tonawanda, which 
was formed from the town of Wheatfield, and which in the past 



A COUNTY WITH THREE CITIES 18S 

few years has been a rapidly growing community. In fact, 
there are two cities at that point, with only Tonawanda Creek 
between them, but the creek is the line between Niagara and 
Erie counties, hence the two cities are in different counties, the 
one in Erie County being called Tonawanda. The Tonawandas 
are virtually the western terminus of the Erie barge canal, for, 
while the canal starts at Buffalo, that city is south of the Tona- 
wandas. These cities have also long been celebrated as one of 
the leading lumber ports of the United States, being rivalled only 
by Chicago. 

The lumber business at the Tonawandas dates back to 1873. 
The receipts by lake that year were 104,909,000 feet. They 
increased every year, and ten years later were 398,871,853. 
In 1889 the enormous total of 676,017,200 had been reached, 
and in 1890 this total was exceeded when the figures were 718,- 
650,900. At the same time the shipments of lumber eastward 
over the Erie Canal from the Tonawandas increased from 
89,273,285 feet in 1873 to as high as 820,149,423 feet in 1888. 
Later figures are also interesting, but, of course, the lumber 
business is on the wane now because of the depletion of the 
timber supply. 

North Tonawanda has now become a manufacturing city of 
considerable importance. Its industries now produce nmsical 
instruments, bolts, sleds, forges, radiators and boilers, motor 
boats, steel, roofing, paper, etc. 

The proposition to connect Lakes Erie and Ontario on the 
United States side of the line by constructing a canal from the 
navigable waters of the Niagara River above the Falls to the 
navigable water below is as old as the project to utilize the waters 
of the river for the development of power. At different times 
during more than a hundred years it has engaged the attention 
of civil engineers and capitalists. The first company that pro- 
posed to construct this canal was incorporated in 1798, and a 
survey was soon afterward made. At the present time, one 
hundred and eighteen years later, a bill is pending in the Con- 
gress appropriating $200,000 for the purpose of making another 
survey. Actual construction work upon no one of the numerous 
ship canal projects was ever commenced. 

In 1808, pursuant to a resolution passed by the United States 
Senate, the Secretary of the Treasury submitted an elaborate 



184 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

report upon the subject of roads and canals in which he suggested 
a ship canal around Niagara Falls. Another ship canal company 
was incorporated in April, 1823, composed of Niagara Frontier 
people. The canal was to run from a point above the Falls ta 
the heights near the village of Lewiston. A survey was made 
by Nathan Roberts, an engineer connected with the Erie Canal 
from the beginning of the construction of the great waterway. 
The survey was from the mouth of Gill Creek, two miles above 
the Falls, to the brow of the Lewiston mountain. Engineer 
Roberts estimated that a ship canal over that route could be 
constructed for about $1,000,000. Naturally the ship canal 
project was not only of local, but of national interest. In 1836 
Captain W. G. Williams, a topographical engineer of the United 
States Army, was sent to make surveys for a ship canal around 
Niagara Falls, which was largely over the same route as that 
surveyed by Mr. Roberts, but the canal at this time was esti- 
mated to cost $3,000,000. Again in 1863 the Niagara ship canal 
project came before the President and the Congress, and a new 
survey was ordered in 1868. Several lines were run and reports 
made to Congress, but the project failed of authorization by a 
small majority. 

In this connection it is interesting to note that on July 4, 
1857, an Independence Day celebration was held at Niagara 
Falls which was characterized as the "occasion of the opening 
of the navigation to Niagara Falls." This was really the opening 
of Port Day, which is the head of the hydraulic canal. On that 
day there was received at that point three steamers, styled as 
the pioneers, in opening steam navigation from Lake Erie to 
Niagara Falls some two miles lower down than had ever before 
been attempted. The boats were the Cygnet, the Swallow, and 
the Alliance. Upon that occasion, Stephen M. Allen made a 
very interesting address in which he referred to the hydraulic 
canal, then seventy feet wide and ten feet deep, as "sufficient 
to sustain any amount of navigation at present used upon the 
lakes." Proceeding with his address, Mr. Allen said, with 
reference to the harbor: 

"The harbor which has been opened today is one of the 
most spacious, and the channel one of the most safe in the river. 
It consists of an outer and inner basin, forming a perfect geologi- 
cal wonder. The inner one covers an area of about one hundred 



A COUNTY WITH THREE CFITES 185 

acres, more than one-half of which will average nine feet of water, 
and may be deepened by dredging to eleven feet before reaching 
the rock. It lies within what is called the Goat Island and 
Grass Island bars, which shoot by each other at the entrance 
of the inner harbor, leaving a space of about four hundred and 
fifty feet between, with a passage out of ten and a half feet of 
water. The bar which runs up from Goat Island is rock, and 
gradually sinks from a depth of water of one foot at Goat Island 
to a point intersected at right angles by the rock bar running 
from the shore below the mouth of the canal in water of three 
feet depth. The cross bar from the American shore striking the 
Goat Island ridge in shoal water, reduces the current at the pier 
where we now lie to about three miles per hour, which can be 
fully checked and made dead water, if desired, by running 
breakwaters across from below. The navigable space to this 
inner basin opposite this pier has been demonstrated by the 
coming in today of three steamers at once, all rounding to and 
swinging in at different points of the basin at the same time. 
Grass Island and the bar which reaches below, as well as that 
from its head, is composed entirely of sand and reaches and 
averages eleven and a half feet in depth. The outer basin con- 
tains about one thousand acres, and the water varies from thir- 
teen to twenty feet in depth. It is bounded below bj- the right- 
angled branch of the Goat Island bar for about half a mile, the 
water averaging along the inner edge of its crescent form about 
four feet deep, and then loses itself in the British channel. The 
upper boundary of both basins is formed by the Schlosser bar, 
which stretches across the river for about a mile, over which for 
its whole length, with one exception, the water averages in 
different spots all the way from one to three and a half feet. This 
exception is through the channel down which we have passed 
today for the first time, and which has lately been buoyed out. 
It is about three hundred feet wide, and the lowest water we have 
ever found with the line in its center is seven and a half feet. The 
bar is very narrow in this spot, being not more tlum one hundred 
feet wide; and the bed seems to be filled with loose rock which 
can be removed, it is thought, without blasting. Immediately 
above and below this bar there is ten feet of water, reaching to 
the harbor below and to Buffalo above. The outer basin is reached 
both from this channel and from the British channel with perfect 



186 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

safety, as you have seen today; the current in each approach 
from the foot of Navy Island being less by two miles per hour 
than the entrance to Chippewa Creek, which has been open to 
all kinds of navigation for many years." 

The channel of the Niagara River to the port of Niagara 
Falls has now been deepened to fourteen feet. 

Now, Niagara County contains over 100,000 population, 
with more than 42,000 people in the city of Niagara Falls. The 
Niagara frontier is the center of tremendous interest in not only 
present day developments, but in historical events covering a 
period of about two and one-half centuries. At Niagara Falls 
is Nature's greatest storehouse of energy, and what that energy 
has done and can do for mankind has been partially portrayed 
in this book. That the future will produce a tremendous 
advance for the Niagara locality there cannot be a question of 
doubt. Of all the greatness of the Niagara frontier that is or 
is to be, the great cataracts are the foundation. As Lord Mor- 
peth of Ireland wrote of Niagara: 

"There's nothing great or bright, thou glorious Fall, 
Thou may'st not to the fancy's sense recall : 
The thunder-riven cloud, the lightning's leap. 
The stirring of the chambers of the deep, 
The tread of armies, thickening as they come, 
The blast of trumpet, and the beat of drum! 
Oh! may the wars that madden in thy deeps. 
There spend their rage, nor climb the encircling steeps. 
And, till the conflict of thy surges cease. 
The nations on thy banks repose in peace." 



IN CONCLUSION 

While it may be true that "of the making of books there is 
no end," the fact remains that in the writing of each book there 
must be an ending. The author of "Niagara — Queen of Won- 
ders" has endeavored to fulfill its purpose as indicated in the 
Preface. Its readers must be the judges. 

In the chapters which make up this publication some of the 
important early history of the Niagara frontier is presented; 
the majestic grandeur of the famous Niagara River and Cataracts 
as the world's greatest natural spectacle is portrayed; some of 
the descriptions and references in both prose and poetry, repro- 
duced; the great work of the Empire State in making the enjoy- 
ment of Niagara's scenery free to all mankind forever, set forth; 
the details of the installation of the most stupendous hydro- 
electrical power development on earth, recorded; the immense 
Niagara power plants described; the erection of the lusty young 
city of Niagara Falls and its remarkable industrial progress, 
outlined; trenchant facts related pertaining to the various 
unique industries in Niagara Falls that were not in existence 
when the power development started and that were made possible 
by the electric furnace; the universal use made of the products 
of Niagara power explained; the great question of Niagara 
diversion and of the conservation of natural resources discussed; 
the tremendous necessity for a larger use of water power empha- 
sized; the splendid spectacle of the night illumination of the 
cataracts touched upon; the long dormant Niagara Ship Canal 
project revived; the interesting details of the construction of the 
first railway suspension bridge across the Niagara Gorge, given; 
a glance at the other two cities in the county and at Niagara 
County at large included; a tribute to the men who made possible 
the power development and the industrial supremacy of the 
Niagara frontier, offered; and, then, the book is embellished with 
the finest collection of ancient and modern Niagara River scenes 
and power plant pictures ever published. 

What man has done here at Niagara, with Nature as his 

(187) 



188 NIAGARA— QUEEN OF WONDERS 

hand-maiden, can be favorably compared with the work of man 
in all lines of endeavor down through the centuries. Along with 
the discoverers, the great captains in military achievement, the 
inventors, statesmen, the great lights in literature, scientists and 
captains of industry should be ranked the men who initiated and 
piloted to successful consummation the harnessing of Niagara 
Falls and the inauguration of the electrical age. 

Those men whose genius, courage, scientific attainments, 
financial ability and foresight made possible the initiation and 
consummation of the stupendous hydro-electrical development 
of power at Niagara Falls have an enduring title to fame. The 
pioneers of power development set upon an eternal throne at 
Niagara Falls electricity to be king of the twentieth century, 
and to accomplish more for the race than kings, princes, or 
potentates, and really, the great work of the subtle current 
created by Niagara's perpetually moving flood has only com- 
menced. Just as the institutions that formed the foundation 
of the United States and which contained in substance all that 
the ages had done for human government, were organized in a 
forest with cultivated mind acting upon uncultivated nature, 
so did science harness Niagara that only before had charmed the 
senses, and put its resistless and ceaseless current to the greatest 
use of humankind. 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 221 333 3 



iiiilii 






feti 



